Shinigami
by death by storm
Summary: No longer on Hiatus: Raito and L have no new leads on the Kira case. L is depressed. When they take the day off, something happens that sets the gears in motion for an ending that neither imagined. Non Yaoi.
1. Prologue

_Okay... so welcome to my new story. I wrote this one over a few lectures at university on my laptop hehe. Anyway, there will be SPOILERS for L's real name and up until book seven. So if you don't like spoilers, turn back now. Another thing, I'm my own beta so if there are any spelling errors, please feel free to point them out. _

**Disclaimer: **I sorely wish I owned Death Note...

Shinigami

Raito sipped at his cup of coffee and yawned. No matter what the detective said, waking up at five o'clock in the morning after going to bed at one thirty the night before was not a full night's sleep! Then the investigation team wondered why he and L got into so many fights. It was currently 6:30 in the morning and it was still an hour and a half before the investigation team arrived. Raito tensed as L shifted beside him. They had been attached by handcuffs for so long that Raito barely noticed the detective anymore except for every morning when the detective would blatantly refuse to take off the shackles that bound them together. How he hated taking a shower while L watched him. It was rather disturbing to have the man he considered a friend stare at him while he went about his morning routine.

"Raito – kun," L spoke up suddenly while staring intently at his computer screen. "How about we take a break from this case and have a tennis match?"

Raito gave him a wary glance. "Are you sure that you want to take a break from this case? It isn't like you, Ryuzaki,"

L bit his thumb making the chain that bound them jingle. "We have nothing to do until the next round of killings by Kira, Light-kun," he said.

Raito mentally gritted his teeth. "Are you sure you aren't still depressed, Ryuzaki?"

L ignored him and pressed the button with a large 'W' on it. "Watari, could you contact the other members of the investigation team and tell them that we are taking a day off and that they can do what they please?"

"I will do that right now, Ryuzaki," came the old man's voice. "I must say, I'm glad that you have accepted my suggestion."

For not the first time Raito wondered why L expected the man to be awake at all times of the day. No matter what time he paged him, Watari was quick to answer.

"Come on then, Raito – kun," L said almost impatiently as he tugged at the chain.

If Raito wasn't so worried about what L was planning he would have smiled. It was rather amusing to see the detective so excited for something that he would risk acting impatient in any form.

Raito shook his head and got up. "Okay," he said.

L led him upstairs and down a hallway before halting in front of a door with a dead bolt. L produced a key from his pocket and held it with his thumb and forefinger. He carefully placed it into the door and turned it. With a click it unlocked and L solemnly pushed it open. It swung in with a silent glide on smooth hinges. L wordlessly tugged the chain to get Raito's attention and stepped inside.

L turned the light on and Raito glanced around the room in surprise. A hint of disuse hung in the air entwined with the smell of dust. Even though the building they were in was brand new, it felt as if he was looking in an old attic crammed with boxes full of the memories of days long past. The detective ignored all of this and led Raito right to the corner of the room without sparing a glance at any of the objects. There were two tennis racket shaped cases and a tube of neon green balls. L grabbed both of these and they wove around the mess of boxes to the exit.

L slammed the door behind them and began to retrace their steps down the stairs. Raito was curious about one thing.

"Ryuzaki, why isn't that under lock and key like the rest of this building?" he asked.

"It was," the detective replied. "The light switch had a thumb print scanner on it."

Raito had to admit that the detective grew odder all the time. Together they walked down the street. They received many strange glances from passersby at their handcuffed appearance.

"Ryuzaki, how are we supposed to play tennis if we're attached to each other?"

"I took the liberty of getting the key off of Watari yesterday evening while you were sleeping Raito - kun," L said simply.

"Aren't you worried that I might try to escape?" Raito asked.

"You are Kira, Raito - kun. You have only lost your memories for the moment. Right now you are harmless in that sense and you still want to prove your innocence by working on this case with me. You aren't going to go anywhere," L said. "Also I can still observe you here, Raito – kun. There's a park not far from here with a tennis court."

Raito bit his lip in annoyance. Of course L was correct. He wasn't about to go anywhere, but still it was annoying that the detective wouldn't lay off the Kira accusations. It was rather frustrating. Still, he felt even more suspicious of L. Even though L's reasoning in allowing them to separate was sound, he knew that if the detective truly believed in that logic, that they would only be handcuffed to each other part of the time. Unless Misa was correct and L truly was a pervert. Raito fought down a blush that threatened to overwhelm his face and his composure. He cut off those thoughts before they could go any further.

They walked straight down the street for a block or so before turning onto a side street. A few hundred metres in was the park with the tennis courts that L had described. Luck was with them as there was no one else on the courts. Or perhaps it wasn't luck. It was a very secluded place. There were large trees everywhere and the sweet smell of pine filled the cool early morning air.

There was, however a beaten path that led to the courts. The pair lost no time in following the path up to the courts and opening the gate. Raito lifted the latch and pushed the door open. L wasted no time in dragging him inside. The detective produced the key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. He tossed them in a corner and handed Raito a racket. Raito took hold of the zipper and placed the cover in the same corner as the handcuffs were. He took the side of the court opposite to L and allowed a smirk to cross his face. Even if the freedom was temporary, he was determined to enjoy it. He rotated the wrist that was usually handcuffed to the detective. Although the detective was acting oddly, he was determined to enjoy this.

The ball went whizzing past Raito before he could move. "Fifteen – love," L said calmly, but Raito could tell that the detective was amused.

"That's not fair, Ryuzaki," Raito grumbled before hitting the ball back towards L. He was awarded with the detective's chuckle.

The sun was high in the sky by the time that they both had enough with tennis. Dripping with sweat, they both headed off of the courts.

Boredom: Something that Raito hadn't felt in a while. Even though there was no new information about the Kira case, he was used to at least looking over the information left over from the previous people killed by Kira.

He glanced over at L, who seemed perfectly content to stare right back at him.

Raito cleared his throat. "So... what do you want to do now?" he asked.

"Work on the Kira case, Raito - kun," L replied immediately.

Raito's eye twitched. "Besides that," he said.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Raito turned away and cast his mind around desperately in hopes of coming up with something that would entertain them for a few more hours. The snapping sound that he had come to associate with the handcuffs gave him a reason to narrow his eyes at L. The detective also had their rackets in the hand that didn't have the metal band circling around it.

"What about we - " he started and to his lack of surprise was just dragged off with the detective. He sighed in exasperation and followed him.

The detective led them off the tennis courts and out of the park. Raito took the time to breathe in as much fresh air as he could before they retreated back to the investigation building.

The street was packed with people which wasn't that unusual for Japan. What was strange was the fact that at the moment no one was paying attention to the handcuffs that held them bound to each other. He shook his head in disbelief when he realized that they weren't even on the right street.

"Ryuzaki, where exactly are we going?" Raito demanded.

The detective didn't answer but continued down the street. Raito glanced around in hopes of gathering any clue about where they were going. He noticed that they weren't on a main street and that the houses were steadily growing shabbier.

"Why are we going to the slums, Ryuzaki?"

The detective again ignored him but continued to press on. Raito came to a complete halt L stopped and looked back..

"Ryuzaki, I refuse to go any further until you tell me where we are going," he demanded.

The detective blinked. "I'm hoping to show you something Raito – kun. I thought you knew that."

Raito was irritated. What could he possibly learn in such a shabby neighbourhood?

L pulled on the chain once again and Raito followed. The eccentric detective didn't seem to have any problem with their surroundings.

There were some shouts behind them and they both came to a halt. They turned to see two men fighting on a corner. Raito tensed when he saw that one of them held a knife. The two men were in direct contrast to each other. Even from his vantage point he could see that the hand that held the knife was emaciated and sickly pale. The man attached to the hand had a shabby appearance with wild, dirty hair. The other who was being attacked was in a business suit and looked to be the nicest dressed person on the street.

"Ryuzaki - "

"Just watch, Raito – kun," L instructed him. "We are lucky that we ran into the situation I was looking for so soon."

Raito glowered. "What is the point of showing me this?" he demanded.

"Why do you think that the man with the knife is attacking the other?" L asked.

"Obviously because he needs money for drugs," came the reply. "We really don't need people like that on the streets. He should be punished for what he's doing to the man in the business suit."

"I find it interesting that Raito – kun said 'punished' and not 'arrested'."

Raito groaned, his ire rising. "Not that again. I've told you over and over again. I'm not Kira."

"I just wanted you to think about that before you regained your memories, Raito – kun."

WHAM!

L went sprawling to the ground. Slowly he brought his hand to his jaw where Raito's fist had struck him.

Raito stood over him with eyes full of anger. "Stop implying that I'm Kira!"

"I'm not implying that you are Kira," the detective breathed before swinging his heel into the teen's face. "I know it."

Raito shuddered as he was struck and this time it was the detective who stood over him. He growled and shot to his feet and hit L again. L fell backward and swung his feet into Raito's chest as he was pulled down on top of him. Raito was knocked away and onto the ground beside him. It was only then that they noticed that people had stopped what they were doing to watch their fight. They had drawn a considerable crowd in the thirty seconds that they had been fighting each other.

Raito and L both got to their feet and rubbed their injuries.

"What happened to the lovers' quarrel?" a young girl's disappointed voice came from the front.

Raito was shocked at the statement. Lovers' quarrel? And then he remembered he was still handcuffed to the detective. That was it of course. As much as he hated to admit it, L had become a constant in his life.

He glanced to the side. The only thing that showed L's surprise at the statement was the slight widening of his large eyes. The movement was so minuscule that only one who had been around him could discern it on the unassuming mask that he wore. Ignoring the stares of the crowd, they pushed through the small mass of bodies. Raito remembered about the knife fight and glanced to the alley way where it had been happening. The corners of his mouth turned down in distaste as he saw that the druggie had gotten away and the businessman was nowhere in sight.

Raito had a sense that he knew what L was getting at even though he had been accused of being Kira yet again. His mind flicked to what the druggie had done and why. He knew there was a chance that the druggie wasn't addicted of his own accord. Most were just desperate people wanting and escape from reality and just taking it too far. Therefore, wasn't it the drug dealer's fault that there were people out there like that? The answer was no. The dealer only held part of the blame for the knifing. The other part of the blame would have to be given to peer pressure, curiosity of the druggie and if someone had spiked his drink with the drug.

Raito shook his head to clear such thoughts and glanced back over at L. The detective was biting his thumb and was apparently lost in thought as they slowly wandered back the way they had originally come. He couldn't help but notice that Ryuzaki seemed rather depressed still despite their fight last week. It was strange that the detective had ordered a day off. Raito realized only then that the detective was letting off some steam by accusing him of being Kira. It was childish yes, but the detective was a childish person and Raito could admit in the safety of his own head that he was too.

"Ryuzaki, are you still depressed?"

The detective removed his thumb from his mouth to answer. "I thought that would be obvious Raito – kun."

"You aren't thinking of giving up the case are you?"

"That is something Kira would say, Raito – kun," came the dry retort.

Raito fought down the anger that threatened to engulf him. "I'm worried Ryuzaki. That's all." They walked the rest of the way back to Headquarters in silence.

As soon as they entered the building. L immediately dragged him over to where his computer sat and climbed onto the chair. Raito sat down beside him. Both of them turned on their computers and waited for them to boot up. They worked side by side not willing to break the silence.

Raito was casually browsing through the list of murders when he found something that made him sit up and wipe the exhaustion from his eyes. "Ryuzaki! Come over here."

L got up and looked over Raito's shoulder. His eyes scanned the article. His eyes widened. "Y – Yagami – kun."

"Look at this huge growth here," Raito said excitedly. "All of these mysterious deaths through illness and accident aren't natural. What's more is that every single one of these deaths has benefited Yotsuba."

"You know what this means?"

"Kira can kill in other ways than heart attacks!" they both exclaimed in unison. "And he's working with the Yotsuba corporation."

Eagerly they both went back to their computers and began to work with renewed vigor. The rest of the day passed in a blur as both genii used their combined intellect to come up with new information about the Kira case.

End Prologue.

_Well, I hope you enjoyed that, I already have most of the story in my head and another chapter written that needs to be edited. I will be updating every two weeks... so see you all on November 10! I think. Too lazy to look at a calender. Don't forget to review! _

_One more thing, if anyone wants to know whether this will be a yaoi between Raito and L, then the answer is that I don't know yet. If the story goes that way, then it does, if it doesn't, well, I like it either way._

_TBC... _


	2. The Recovery of a Lost Self

_Yes it's 12:16am so I guess that counts as Saturday. I'm updating. Okay, so I am having a lot of fun writing this story. The chapters are so long O.o... and the story keeps flowing from my fingertips. As I have said in the author's note at the end of the previous chapter, I am updating this every two weeks. The only exception will be for chapter 4. That is going to take about a month because I have exams for university in December. _

_I have noticed that with my current stress levels I am not writing as well as I would like to and have incorporated huge errors into this story as well as others. I have since fixed up the ones in chapter one, so now it reads like a normal chapter with a proper introduction. I didn't change anything major, just made sure that it flowed better. Also, thanks to those who have reviewed so far. You encourage me to get off my lazy arse and write._

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Death Note. If I did, I probably wouldn't be in school right now.

The Recovery of a Lost Self

"You wouldn't believe it, but there's a notebook in my bag that kills people if you write their names down in it!" Higuchi confessed as the blindfold was drawn over his face.

"Yagami – san, please check Higuchi's bag for the notebook," L said. It had taken two and a half months to gather the necessary information to go after Higuchi, but it had been worth it. Light felt a surge of triumph flow through his veins as his father pulled out the notebook on the street below. After another two months of investigation and careful planning, they finally had enough evidence to put the third Kira away for good.

Soichiro Yagami flicked through it. "The names in here seem to coincide with the cri – AAGH!" he screamed.

Eyes widening slightly in alarm, L leaned forward. "What is it Yagami – san?"

"MONSTER!!!" came the terrified reply.

Ide grabbed the notebook. "Chief I – AAGH!!"

Above the scene, Raito saw L bite his thumb out of the corner of his eye. "Shinigami?" L murmured.

Intrigued, the detective brought the helicopter in for a landing and both he and Raito jumped out. L rushed over to the scene and grabbed the notebook from Ide's hands. His expression didn't change at all as he spotted Rem. "So they do exist..."

"Let me see, Ryuzaki!" Raito grumbled impatiently and snatched the notebook from the surprised detective's hands. Raito's eyes widened and he shrieked loudly as images that flew into his mind like water bursting from a dam. He remembered everything! HE was Kira! He glanced up and saw Rem. He remembered his goal to become the god of the world he was creating.

His mind flashed back to that day almost immediately. The day that Ryuzaki had taken him to that neighbourhood and they had seen the druggie rob the businessman. His mind was at war with itself struggling against the belief that his form of justice was really pointless. He couldn't decide which ideal was better for once. It wasn't a question of whether it was right or not to kill criminals, Raito knew he was right all along. He just wondered what the point would be if the world would rot once again once he was gone. Even if he found a suitable heir to his throne, he knew that the person's ideals would be at least slightly different from his.

There was a lot of proof of that in history. Joseph Stalin for one. He controlled Communist Russia right after the death of Lenin to the time he died in office. His successors did not serve well to the man's legacy at all. It hadn't bothered him before, but it did now. With the druggie and the businessman, he knew that he should kill the druggie because of the fact that the man stabbed another with the knife. No matter how he looked at it, there were much less violent ways to steal cash. Killing the druggie wouldn't be the only problem, he would also have to find the dealer and the person who drew the druggie into the lifestyle that he faced now.

He understood what L meant that day. It wasn't that there was good and bad. Hell, even he knew that he was technically doing a bad thing. It was just that there were no really good people. He bet that if he asked his father, he would have done something that was against the law or that may get him killed by Kira. Most people his age in other countries had done drugs of at least one sort. There were people in some of the developing countries that grew drugs instead of crops because they got more money that way. This helped fuel the dealers and to some extent the prostitution rings.

It was a depressing thought, but killing criminals wouldn't improve the world over much as everyone was evil to some extent and it would be hypocritical of him to set a standard against wrongdoers. He had vowed to kill off all who brought harm to others. Yet, even if he were to find every single person - his blood ran cold at the thought and he shuddered. Raito knew that he would never be able to fix the world in the way that he desired and the very thought saddened him.

"Raito – kun, are you alright?" Raito looked up and met L's eyes.

"Yes, It just shocked me." Almost simultaneously, they both recast their eyes on the scene in front of them.

Something was odd though, Rem had her notebook out and was writing a name down in it. Raito knew almost instinctively that it was Higuchi's. She was transferring the notebook to him whether he liked it or not! Soichiro drew his gun and pointed it at the death god.

"Stop it! We need him for questioning!" he yelled.

The death god ignored him and continued to scribble in her notebook. Souichiro fired two shots at the shinigami. The bullets whizzed through her and she continued to ignore him. Light almost wondered if she was going to write down L's name too, but immediately dismissed it as absurd. The detective posed no threat to Misa currently, but Misa needed Raito there to support her – in the shinigami's mind that is.

39 ... 40! Light watched as Higuchi's body suddenly spasmed and he collapsed. At the same time, he was shocked to see Rem start to crumble to dust. Raito frowned the investigation team would now have two notebooks. That was certainly not supposed to happen. He knew that a shinigami would only die if it killed one human to allow another to live. She must have extended Misa's life somehow. His blood ran cold as the next thought occurred to him and his brain went into overdrive. The only way that this could have possibly extended Misa's life was if she already had the notebook that he'd buried and had regained her memories! Rem must have perceived that he was in a position where he couldn't kill Higuchi and done it for him to make sure that there was still someone at Misa's side! Raito sighed and turned to Ryuzaki to hand the notebook back only to notice the detective staring at him intensely. The first thought that came to his mind was that the detective had already decided that it was Raito's fault Higuchi died.

"Curious," the detective mumbled softly.

Yes, curious indeed. What else did the shinigami do that was against his plan? Raito knew that while it was worrisome, he'd have to ponder it when they got back to Head Quarters. He handed the notebook back to L without a word.

Back at headquarters, the investigation team gathered around the notebook. They all poured over the notebook and examined its contents. Ryuzaki was especially curious and a couple of times Raito caught the detective looking at him. He was pretty sure that Ryuzaki would still continue to suspect him even when he found the rule in the back, but he would have to let go of his suspicion against Raito.

"'If the owner of this note fails to consecutively write down names for 13 days, they will die,'" L stated slowly. He was holding the second one that was found on Higuchi.

"This means that there is no way that Misa and Raito are Kira!" Matsuda exclaimed happily.

Raito frowned. There was a possibility that L would consider that some of the rules were fake. No... he was almost sure that he would figure it out.

"It makes sense that there would be a consequence for using the murder notebook," L said. "I still need to test the murder notebook out. Even though it has been proved that the notebook does kill, we still don't know if the 13 day rule is true."

"Raito – kun, according to this, the ownership of the murder notebook has been passed onto you," L said. "Why was that shinigami so eager to pass the notebook onto you?"

"I don't know," Raito replied. "I'm confused about it as well." A half truth

Raito was almost entirely certain that Misa had either the notebook that he'd buried, or a new one. He suspected that it was the first of the two. He knew that he had to think of a plan and fast.

"Seeing as Misa is no longer a suspect, we no longer need to keep her here right Ryuzaki?" Soichiro said.

L didn't take his eyes off of the Death Note though Raito knew that he must have pulled a face. "Yes, that is correct."

"Does that mean we don't have any further need for these handcuffs, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked.

"I never said that you were not still a suspect, Raito – kun."

"Ryuzaki, the rule proves my son innocent," Soichiro argued.

Immediately the others in the investigation team joined in with protests as well.

"Yeah, he's right!" Matsuda exclaimed.

"Haven't you tortured these poor kids enough, Ryuzaki?" Aizawa snapped.

"I see that I am outnumbered on this issue. Very well, you are free to go, Raito - kun," Ryuzaki grumbled and pressed the intercom. "Watari, can you please bring the key to the handcuffs?"

"Are you certain, Ryuzaki?" came Watari's voice from the intercom.

"I am quite certain, Watari," Ryuzaki confirmed gravely.

Raito didn't say anything but watched Ryuzaki fuss with the death note. He knew that he had to get into contact with Misa before she left headquarters.

The Next Morning...

Raito woke up and enjoyed his newfound freedom from Ryuzaki. He took a shower without the humiliating knowledge that the guileless detective was watching his every move. It wouldn't surprise him if he was watching on camera though. Raito scowled at the thought. Even though the detective was correct about his identity as Kira and he understood why the he would be watched under those circumstances, it still annoyed him.

Raito turned the tap water off and put all thoughts of Ryuzaki out of his head. He left the shower that was adjacent to the room that had been given to him the night before. It was not unlike the one that the detective and him had shared for the past several months. There was a bed, the intercom, a lamp, a dresser, a closet. The room was done in a plain emotionless white. After getting dressed, he went back into the washroom and began to comb out his hair in front of the mirror.

The ringing of the intercom caused Raito to jump slightly. He set the comb down on the sink and casually went to answer it.

"Hello?" he said.

"Good morning, Raito – kun," Ryuzaki's voice came over the speaker.

"What's wrong, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked even as a ice cube of dread slipped down his throat and into his stomach.

"There have been more killings again. Please report downstairs to the investigation room immediately." The detective then hung up.

Raito swore that the last name he would write in the Death Note would be Misa's. That woman was so infuriating! He would get the entire story of how she had managed to get a hold of the notebook before he was ready for her to dispossess it again. He finished combing his hair and checked in the mirror to see that ever strand of hair was in place. Once that was done, he quickly headed downstairs.

He entered the room where Ryuzaki was staring at a screen deep in thought. "You know, Raito – kun, I find it quite odd that Kira's killings resumed the moment that Misa – chan left this morning," he said.

"She's left already?"

"Yes, she said that she'll be coming back here around twelve to take you out for lunch, Raito - kun," Ryuzaki answered.

"Where is everyone else?" Raito asked.

"They will be here shortly," L replied.

Perfect. Raito would be able to talk to her in a private setting on the subject of the death note. He took his customary place beside L at a computer and began to surf through websites and newsreels.

It was actually around eleven thirty when Misa showed up. "Gomen, but I just couldn't wait any longer to see you Raito."

"I'm going to take off half an hour early," Raito said and found himself with an armful of blonde model.

"Have fun on your date," Matsuda said eagerly.

Raito plastered on a smile for the sake of the investigation team and led Misa out the door with an arm around her shoulders. He let go of her the moment that they were down the street.

"Come on, I know of a cafe where we probably won't be overheard," he said quietly.

Raito found himself retracing his steps in a sense to the very place where L had interrogated him the first time. It was with a sense of deja vu that he led Misa inside and they sat down in the same spot as then. Raito shook his head. Even though it was natural for him to think of the detective so much considering that up until yesterday he was chained to the man, he really had to stop thinking about him at odd times.

"So when or how did you regain ownership of the notebook?" was his first question.

"It was when Misa was at Yotsuba to try out for the commercial," Misa said. "Rem – san dropped the notebook in the washroom. I picked it up and got ownership over it again. She was my hiding spot up until a couple of nights ago. I was at the shoot for my new movie when it happened."

Raito's interrogation was cut off by the arrival of the waitress. After they had ordered their drinks, Raito again focused on the story.

"So what about the new batch of criminals this morning?" he asked.

"Misa thought it would be best to restart the killings right away," she muttered. "By the way, Misa remembered L's name. It's written down in the notebook in her bag. He's to die twenty three days from now like it said in the note that you left in it. It's such a pretty name. L. Lawliet."

"Is Ryuk with you?" he asked knowing that it was his fault that the detective's name was in the note.

"Ah yes!" Misa exclaimed happily. She pulled out a piece of paper from her bag and Raito took it from her.

"I have to tell you Misa, I am going to quit this Kira thing," Raito said. "I have come to realize that there are no good people on this planet at all. Almost everyone has done something that is considered punishable by Kira at some time or another. Do you understand me?"

"You mean that there is no point to what Kira is doing?" Misa asked. "But Kira killed the man who killed Misa's parents. He has done some good."

"While that may be true, there is no way for me to create my ideal world. Everyone sins. There is no point in punishing everyone. While there are some crimes that are more atrocious than others, I believe that I should allow humanity to govern itself. I am going to move out of the picture altogether," he said. Hearing his reasoning out loud made it seem rather weak but he could remember that God had done the very same thing if one were to look at the bible.

"Misa supports you in everything you do, Raito," she said cheerily.

"Then relinquish ownership of the notebook to me after this conversation," Raito replied. "I'm going to turn myself in to L and I'll need his name for what I plan to do."

The waitress came back with their drinks and set them down before she left.

Raito looked at Ryuk. "This is where you come in, Ryuk. Do you know of any rule that is against taking two people, let's say L and I to the shinigami realm?"

"Will you take me there?" Raito asked.

"What do I get in return?" Ryuk asked.

"A whole barrel of apples," Raito replied. He knew he had the death god the moment his eyes widened and he foamed at the mouth.

"You've got yourself a deal," the shinigami replied eagerly. "Say Raito, what exactly are you planning to do?"

"Isn't not knowing half the fun?" Raito replied.

"Hyuk, hyuk, you're right as always Raito," the shinigami replied.

They finished their tea in silence.

So... how did you guys like that? Were L and Raito in character? I myself feel that they are a bit ooc. Many of you may have noticed the similarities of the quotations of the characters from book 7. Yes, I did borrow some of the quotations, but I still don't own Death Note. I even kept this plot under wraps from my best friend, though I admit that it was very tough because she usually knows of my stories before I write them lol. Please review!

TBC...


	3. Life After Death?

**Important:**_I will not be able to update in two weeks as I am sitting university exams at the time and must study beforehand. I apologize in advance. I will be updating four weeks from today. I am sorry to all of my readers. _

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Chapter 3

Raito waited until the other task force members went home for the night before he confronted L.

Ryuzaki blinked in shock as his chair was forcefully spun around and his shoulders grabbed.

"Raito - kun?" the detective asked.

"Ryuzaki... I'm Kira," Raito replied immediately.

"Why are you admitting this so freely Raito – kun?" L asked.

"You are going to die in twenty – three days unless we do something," Raito said and pulled out his Death Note from underneath his shirt. He pushed it into the detective's hands.

Raito saw L's eyes widen as he spotted Ryuk. The shinigami was cackling so hard that he was doubled over. The detective's focus turned back down to the book in his hands. He quickly flipped it open and began leafing through it, then he stopped and stared at the page in front of him. Raito leaned towards the L and glanced over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

Though Raito would never admit it out loud. He had to admit that L had a pretty name. L Lawliet. It fit him in a way that Raito would not have believed possible.

"You don't want me to die, Raito-kun?" L asked curiously. "Why ever not? Just the fact you are Kira would make it imperative to you that I die."

"I've discovered something," Raito said quietly. "All humans are the same. They all commit crimes and there is no good."

"Raito – kun, even in accordance to your belief of that, your confession doesn't make sense," L said. "According to my profile on you, you wouldn't just give up like this for any reason."

"What makes you think that it was just any reason? If every human is sinful then that means I must be tainted as well and not just because I'm Kira," Raito said. "Killing criminals isn't going to change that and doing it in a fruitless attempt to purify the human race is pointless. I'll be honest with you, L. I still hate you, but if you weren't around, I'd risk becoming bored again. Also, you won't kill me as you don't have any proof besides the Death Notes. That would never work in a court of law. Even if it did, there would be a chance that it would fall into the hands of a person or organization who would plan to kill others with the book."

"How do you know that I wouldn't arrange your execution to be carried out in secret, Raito-kun?" L asked.

"That would be against your style of justice, Ryuzaki. We both know that."

L looked rather amused at this in a grim sort of way. Raito could tell that the detective was thinking about it. There was no benefit to Kira by trying to save L. This was Raito that was talking, not Kira. "What are we going to do then, Raito – kun? The rules say that once a name has been written in the notebook, there is no way to avoid the death of that person."

Raito ignored the condescending manner with which the detective spoke and turned to Ryuk. "Is there any way to circumvent the rule, Ryuk?"

"I don't know," Ryuk replied. "You'd have to ask the Shinigami King."

"Can we get to the Shinigami Realm and talk to him?"

"There is a way, but your souls would have to separate from your bodies," Ryuk replied with a wide grin but didn't elaborate.

"How do we do this Ryuk - san?" L asked. "Why do we need to?"

"I'll be open the portal and as you step through, your souls will be separated from your bodies," Ryuk said. "As for why, there's no air for you to breathe and no food or water. What do you expect from the realm of the Shinigami?"

Raito chose to ignore the latter part of the Shinigami's comment and turned to L. "What do you think that the investigation team will do with our bodies?" he asked curiously.

"I'll contact Watari," L replied. He pressed the 'W' button on his desk. "Watari, could you come down here for a moment?"

They only had to wait a couple of minutes before the door opened. "Watari, my name has been written in a murder notebook."

The kindly looking old man visibly faltered for a moment. "L..."

L picked up the Death Note that Raito had brought with him and handed it to Watari. Watari flipped it open to the last page and took in the name written across the page.

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk," Ryuk cackled madly and Watari turned around suddenly.

"I'm going to die in twenty – three days unless we go talk to this Shinigami King," Ryuzaki said quietly and stood up. "You need to prevent the investigation team from taking our bodies to the hospital when we leave."

Watari nodded. "The Shinigami will be taking you I presume?"

"Yes," L said.

"Don't let your guard down around him, Ryuzaki."

The detective cast his black eyes downward. "I don't think that matters much anymore, Watari," he said.

"You're right. Well, you better go then."

"First my apples," Ryuk announced.

Raito sighed in exasperation. There were times when Ryuk was more annoying than L was. "I still own both of the Death Notes currently held by the investigation team so you should be able to collect after you send us there."

"Watari could fetch them for you, Ryuk – san," L stated, biting his thumb thoughtfully.

"Why should I have to wait?" the Shinigami snorted. "Apples."

"You owe me for not informing me sooner of this rule," Raito snapped.

"Eh... I was wondering why you hadn't said much on the subject," the shinigami chuckled nervously.

"We can not afford to waste much more time," Raito said.

"Alright then," the Shinigami said and his eyes glowed red as he passed one of his hands across a wall.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then slowly as the darkness creeps into a room at sunset, swirls of fog appeared around them and the investigation room's temperature fell. The fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling seemed to fade casting their surroundings in shadow. There was the outlining of a red light in the shape of a doorway that flared up briefly, before disappearing. The fog was drawn towards the place where the light had glowed, and slowly began to congeal into Gothic – like pillars of discoloured stone. Raito couldn't help but lean forward in anticipation for his first glance at the Shinigami Realm.

L stood beside him and watched interestedly.

Ryuk groaned. "Man doing that takes a lot out of a Shinigami," he said.

Raito stepped forward ignoring the hesitation that flooded throughout his body. After all he was Kira – then he paused for a moment realizing that he didn't go by that anymore. Still, he had his pride, and it was with that in mind that he stepped over from the realm of the living to the Shinigami Realm. He turned back just in time to see the odd sight of L catching his body as it crumpled to the ground before going through the doorway himself.

L watched in interest as his body fell and was lowered to the ground by Watari.

"I think that I may have to revise my views on the afterlife, Raito – kun," L commented with interest. "I am still an atheist, but there might actually be another life after this. That would be interesting, don't you think?"

Raito shook his head. "Did you read all of the rules of the Death Note? The last line says that "All humans, without exception eventually die, after that they go to MU or nothingness."

L played devil's advocate. "Do the Shinigami know of any other place besides Earth and the Shinigami Realm?"

"I doubt it," Raito acquiesced. "According to Ryuk all the other Shinigami do is gamble all day. There are some who die because they forget to write down humans' names to extend their lifespans."

"So that is how it works..." the detective muttered referring to why Shinigami wrote the names of humans down in the note. "We should get moving, Raito – kun."

"You're right. We'll have to ask someone for directions."

Raito glanced around him. No matter which way he turned, the landscape was the same. The wind blew like mad scattering dust particles everywhere. He guessed it would have bothered him if he still had to breathe.

"How about this way, Raito – kun?" L said.

Raito turned and his eyes followed the direction to where L was indicating to. He tamped down the slight annoyance that came over him as a result of the detective taking control of the situation.

"That seems like as good a direction as any."

They remained silent as they walked towards a rather large dune of dust. There were dully glowing glass spheres spread at regular intervals across the land. Raito glanced over at his companion.

"What is it, Raito – kun?"

Raito shook his head and plastered a demure smile on his face. "Nothing you need to know but I do want to check out those spheres. Ryuk mentioned something about viewing windows in which Shinigami use to look down into the human world." This wasn't true, but the Shinigami had said that he could watch the human world but he didn't say anything about glowing glass spheres.

This time, L looked over to him before agreeing. "They might provide some valuable insight into where we are stranded for the moment."

Raito didn't even stop to check if L was following him as he stepped off the path. He peered over the edge with curiosity shining in his eyes. There was only a swirling gray void. Raito concentrated on what place he wanted to see: his home. Immediately the swirling shades began to form a picture. It wasn't a clear picture like he expected, but it was his house outlined in shades of grey. He saw his sister Sayu running up the stairs with a her name and lifespan floating over her head. His blood ran cold.

The detective looked over his shoulder, his coal black eyes alighting in interest. He lifted his hand to his mouth and bit his thumb. "Raito – kun, do you miss your family?" he mumbled around his thumb.

"No," Raito said simply. "I don't want them to die, but I don't want to have contact with them. Ryuzaki, can you see her name and lifespan floating over her head?"

"No," the detective looked at him strangely.

"It's odd. Usually the only people who can are people who have traded for the Shinigami's Eyes," Raito mumbled, alarmed.

"It's probably because you're Kira, Raito-kun," L responded dryly.

"Don't call me that! It's probably because I used the Death Note."

"See? It's because you're Kira," L said childishly as they began to walk again.

"No, it's because I used the Death Note." L didn't reply.

They walked in silence for some time. Raito noticed that despite the amount of time they had been walking, he felt no fatigue. He bet that they didn't need sleep either. Despite the hours that had passed, the mountain seemed no closer. In fact, it almost seemed farther.

"I apologize, Raito-kun," Raito jumped. L took no notice but continued. "I am a little stressed about the situation I'm in."

"It's fine, Ryuzaki," he replied ire rising slightly again.

A shadow loomed overhead. L stopped and glanced up in surprise. It had been so deserted that they had forgotten that it was the realm of the Shinigami. Raito stopped and looked up also. The god of death that was circling overhead was very different from Rem or Ryuk. It was black and grey with a fanged mouth. It's body had a set of tattered robes with many holes. The wings were a dirty grey. A scythe was slung across its back. Its limbs were as gangly as Ryuk's.

It swooped down from the sky and landed in front of the stunned males. It turned its mournful eyes onto the them. Raito felt the gaze lance right through to his soul he held himself t. The shinigami stared at him for a moment longer, before moving onto L. L didn't even flinch, but stared back calmly.

"What is your name, shinigami-san?" L asked eventually.

The shinigami turned its eyes back to Raito. Once again he found himself victim to its mournful stare.

"My name is Sha," he replied with a deep voice. "What are yours?"

"Can't you read our names over our heads?" Raito asked.

"It's only polite," came the vague reply.

Raito was stunned. That... was the strangest answer he'd ever heard from a Shinigami. Then again, Raito had only met two Shinigami in his life but he felt that there was just something odd about this one.

"Well?" the Shinigami said.

"I'm Raito Yagami." Raito glanced at L.

"And I'm Ryuzaki," the detective replied.

"Oh. You're the two that I'm supposed to direct to the king," Sha muttered. He grabbed both of L's and Raito's arms in his grip and sprouted his wings once again. "Come on."

_Not like we have any choice, _Raito thought sarcastically as the Shinigami rose into the sky. It was a good thing though. They would be able to see the Shinigami King all that much faster. His hair blew in his face and he felt his 'body' become cold.

"Why are you helping us?" Raito asked raising his voice slightly so that the Shinigami could hear him.

"I owe a debt to Ryuk," came the response but the Shinigami didn't elaborate. Raito didn't press any farther as he knew that it wouldn't answer.

Raito glanced over to L who was gazing at the ground with the utmost rapture. "Ryuzaki?" he shouted over the wind. The detective didn't even twitch but continued to focus on the same spot. Only then did he notice how pale the other looked. Well, Ryuzaki always looked pale but this was ridiculous. Sure, most of him still hated the other to the point of wanting him dead, but still he was concerned. The pallor of a corpse did not suit him.

"Ryuzaki are you alright?" Raito was again forced to shout over the wind.

The detective finally glanced at him. It was then that he realized something. Ryuzaki was scared of heights.

"I'm fine, Raito-kun," came the reply.

"How long until we get there?" Raito shouted up at the Shinigami.

"A few more hours," Sha replied in his mournful voice. "You two were going the wrong way."

Raito closed his eyes once again as any feeling of sympathy to the detective disappeared and annoyance took its place. He aimed a silent glare at the detective before dropping his head down to try to avoid the wind in his face.

True to the Shinigami's word, it did only take a short time to arrive at their destination. The place was easy to spot from the air. It looked like there was a path leading up to a chair made of bone. Even from here, Raito could make out that the Shinigami King was sitting on it. Outlining the border of each side of the path were gigantic rib bones. It looked like something of unfathomable size had collapsed and died there. Raito had to stop himself from shuddering at his revelation.

Sha realigned his body so that they were heading towards the ground. Raito saw L close his eyes tightly out of the corner of his vision. The detective's fear was for naught though. They landed as lightly as a feather a few metres in front of the throne. Sha dumped them unceremoniously onto the ground. Raito and L stumbled to their feet. Raito immediately turned to L and saw that the detective's pallor was much better and the tension had unwound itself from his body.

Raito looked up and saw the Shinigami King beckon them closer. Reluctantly and with great trepidation he and L moved until they were but two metres from the creature on the throne. He had a headdress on and a wide grin full of sharp teeth that seemed permanently etched onto his face. His long, clawed fingers tapped one arm of his chair of death.

"It certainly took you two long enough to get here," the King said. "What is it that you require of me?"

"I need to know if there is any way to circumvent the effects of a Death Note," Raito announced boldly.

"Yes, yes there is," came the reply.

"What do we have to do to get around it?" Raito asked.

"There is only one thing that can stop the process of a Shinigami's Notebook," the Shinigami King said.

Raito leaned closer in order to listen better.

"That thing is - "

End Chapter 3

_Okay, I know I am a horrible person for leaving it there. But it is early Saturday morning and I just FINALLY got this chapter finished with. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews make the world a happier place._

TBC...


	4. The Horn of Angelus

_So yes... after four weeks of hiatus and a mad flurry of studying for exams, I finally get to continue with this story. ANYWAY this chapter is a little shorter than usual due to the fact that every time I sat down to write it, something else got in the way... and then I started working on a Harry Potter fic that I had promised to update. I did allot some time for writing this chapter only to come down with the stomach flu... so it's a bit short... enjoy anyway!_

Anon: I'm sorry... but I really do love my cliffies. I promise to try not to do them that often. Thank you for the review.

Kanon: I seem to get an evil satisfaction out of leaving my readers hanging sometimes... I'm glad you love my story. Thank you for the review.

**Disclaimer:**My L cloning machine broke... T.T

"A mission," the Shinigami King continued. "There is an item in the human world that will stop the progression of the Death Note called the Horn of Angelus. The cost of this mission is severe to you, Raito Yagami if you fail."

"What is it?" Raito sighed. He had suspected that there would be a catch. If it was bad enough, he figured that he would just back out and let L die. It wasn't like he would sacrifice his life for the detective's, just that he would go out of his way to save L's life. When he gave up the Death Note after this, he was, for all intents and purposes innocent. He wouldn't remember his crimes and L would not be able to convict him.

"Your body is already addicted to killing people with the Death Note. As long as you are still in possession of it, you will be suffused with the urge to kill. This was before satisfied when you had another carry out the murder. If you fail, your addiction to the Death Note will overwhelm your body and you will become a shinigami yourself the moment L dies."

Raito opened his mouth intending to tell the Shinigami King that he was going to back out of this if that was the case.

"Uh uh no no, Raito. I'm not letting you back out."

Raito's eyes glowed red with rage for a moment even though his face remained expressionless. On the inside, he was vibrating with anger. How dare this twisted, pathetic excuse for a life do something like this? He saw the King smirk at this.

The Shinigami King continued with his explanation: "When you return to Earth, you, L will have to have contact with the Death Note at all times starting immediately. You must stop your companion from killing others. If he does kill someone, the mission will be null and you will die on the day that has been assigned to you and he will become a shinigami."

"How could this possibly be?" Raito demanded. "Whenever I got Misa to take a break from killings, she never had a problem."

"That would be transferred to you because she killed because of you."

"What about before then?"

"Others have used the Death Note, yet none have used it so extensively. That is why you out of everyone else have an addiction to it. I look forward to the day you become a shinigami. You will be a great asset to our kind."

"About the Horn of Angelus, can you tell us what it looks like?" L interrupted before the Shinigami King could wind up Raito farther.

"An ordinary silver trumpet. There is a set of wings engraved in the bell. Now this trumpet was dropped somewhere on Earth centuries ago in anticipation of the time you would come to regret what you have done. I know that it was Amane Misa who wrote Lawliet's name in the Death Note. Since she was under Raito's command and it was under his orders that your name was written in there, he will be able to use it."

"Can you give us a more specific location?" Raito asked.

"No. That would take all of the fun out of this," the Shinigami King grinned. Raito tried not to grimace in disgust when he saw that the teeth inside were nothing but black stubs, as if the creature's maw had been burned by fire.

"There is a chance that it could be in possession of a human or it could be at the bottom of the ocean," the Shinigami King continued. "Good luck." He cackled in a way that reminded Raito strongly of Ryuk. "You're going to need it."

"I almost forgot, according to the rules of this game, you are permitted to use this." The shinigami pulled out a glowing crystal from his rotted robes and tossed it to Raito. "Figure it out for yourself. The rules don't require me to tell you how it works."

"I believe that I have told you everything you need to know," the Shinigami King said. He waved his arm from his throne to his side and a portal opened up showing the room and the investigation team. "Oh! I forgot to tell you. You have to do this alone or else you will fail."

Raito and L didn't even have time to react to this statement before they were sucked into the portal and fell back into the human world. Raito slammed back into his body and his chest heaved as he drew his first painful breath in what seemed like forever. His head pounded painfully. Cautiously, as not to jar it, he slowly sat up with his hand on his forehead. He felt something jar inside of his pocket and realized that it was the crystal. L sat up beside him.

"How long were we out?" L addressed this to Watari.

"About 12 hours," came the reply.

Soichiro came forward. "Raito, Watari said that you told L that you were Kira."

Raito caught the unspoken end of his sentence. _It isn't true is it? _"I'm sorry, father," he said simply.

Raito glanced up and met his father's eyes. There was a deep betrayal playing in them. The man turned away slowly and refused to look at his son.

"I don't know what to say to you, Raito," the man said. "All this time..."

"I was deceiving you. Yes," came the reply.

"But why?"

Raito took a deep breath. "I wanted to create the perfect world where there was no crime."

"And Raito-kun wanted to rule this world of his."

Raito turned toward L and glared at him before turning back. "That is also true. I believed that only I could change it. Only I could implement those changes, but I realized that I was wrong. Every single person has done something unforgivable in some sense that could be punishable by Kira. They have lied, cheated, harassed others... it doesn't matter who you are talking about."

"Why did you confess? Why not just stop?" Soichiro asked even though Raito knew that the man most likely knew the answer. He also knew that his father wished that he never knew.

"Ryuzaki is going to die. Normally I wouldn't have intervened and allowed him to die, but frankly I would be bored," Raito allowed himself a slight smirk here. "To be honest, I still wish to create a utopia with no crime. If Ryuzaki had to die for it, then so be it even if he is my only equal."

"... I resent that Raito-kun," the detective interrupted. "Watari, could you please bring me some tea and a slice of strawberry shortcake?"

"Of course Ryuzaki," the man left the room.

Raito shook his head and continued. "There was no reason for him to die, therefore I allowed myself to be selfish and have set out to save him."

Soichiro refused to look at him. "I... don't think I can ever forgive you, Raito."

Raito resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I never expected you to, father."

L sighed and stood up. "Come on, Raito-kun, we must do research."

Raito glared at him. This time only half-heartedly at being ordered around like a dog.

"Wait, aren't you going to arrest him Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.

L shook his head. "Of course not. I need to locate an item and Raito-kun is a better asset when aiding me then locked in a cell."

"And after?" Souichiro asked.

"He will not be detained," L replied firmly.

Raito's eyes widened in surprise and he raised one eyebrow.

"The Murder Notebook has a strange compulsion set on it. Raito-kun is as of right now, addicted to it. He need only to present that for defence and he would be freed on a plea of temporary insanity. I also would not allow this to be taken to court. If it were, another organization may acquire it and use it to kill people," L replied. "Raito-kun shall go back to school and be reintegrated into society."

"He was... not acting entirely on his free will?" Souichiro asked hesitantly. He sounded painfully hopeful.

"No. Raito-kun still isn't. He still depicts the behaviour patterns of Kira including narcissism and extreme arrogance." Raito thought he could here a hint of regret for something in L's voice, but he brushed it off.

"Then why don't you just give up the notebook?" Souichiro asked.

"I can't," Raito replied. "I need to have possession to stop the countdown to L's death."

Raito stood up beside L. "I also have to detain Raito-kun again." L replied. "You will be with me twenty four hours a day."

Raito felt like groaning. "My addiction to the Death Note," he said. "When we leave, will your surveillance to this degree cease?"

"No. There is a 40 chance that you will leave where we are staying and come back for the murder notebook," L replied. "I need to keep an eye on you at all times."

Raito sighed just as Watari walked into the room with a tray that held L's cake and tea.

"Thank you Watari," L said quietly. "Could you get the handcuffs and the Death Note? We are going to need them. Raito-kun and I were told that he is addicted to killing with the Death Note."

Raito knew that it was necessary but it still annoyed him. He ignored Souichiro and walked the few feet necessary to sit down elegantly onto his computer chair. His headache was almost gone, but his body still protested a bit to being moved so much. With practiced ease, Raito ignored his bodily complaints, and woke his computer from sleep mode. The chair beside him creaked, as Ryuzaki climbed into it and carefully arranged himself into the crouching position that he knew so well. The tea tray was balanced on his knees. (Raito had no idea how he had managed that). Even as he watched, L lifted the tea tray off of his lap and set it onto the computer table.

Raito turned back to his computer as it signified that it was ready for his password. He typed it in and got started. It took three days before they got a lead.

"Raito-kun," came L's voice. "Look at this."

Raito obligingly sighed and got up from his computer. There was a picture of a famous composer clutching a silver trumpet. On the bell, Raito could just make out a set of angel's wings. There was an artist's signature in the bottom corner of the painting. The entire picture seemed to glow with an angelic light. At the same time, Raito could see that it was obviously a 'ghost' image. Something that had been deleted in such a way that it was still possible to call up if one knew what they were doing.

"Beethoven? Ryuzaki... you've found it. The only problem is that he lived so long ago," Raito said excitedly. "This means that it might be somewhere in Germany."

The detective cracked his first smile since finding out that Raito was Kira. "I think that we should check a little deeper, Raito-kun. We do not know for certain that it is there."

Raito sighed, "You are right, Ryuzaki."

They fell back to work in silence, both trying to figure out where the trumpet had gone after Beethoven had died. It took some digging, but they discovered that the painting had been done by a British artist. The trumpet wasn't Beethoven's, but the artist's. Strangely enough, it was also an effort to call up the artist's identity proved difficult.

Out of all of the articles that Raito and Ryuzaki had read and sifted through, only one mentioned the Horn of Angelus. There was one strange thing about it though. The 'A' in Angelus had been replaced by an sign. It was odd, but then again they were dealing with an otherworldly item. There was a good chance that it would be a lot harder to find it than just by typing the name into the search engine.

A few hours later, they found themselves in a rather small limousine on the way to the airport. Raito chose not to comment on the detective's choice of transportation. Currently, L was sitting beside him on his laptop. The chain jingled as he typed away madly at it. Raito was bored. He wasn't allowed to use a laptop under the fact that there was a dim possibility that he would crack it over Ryuzaki's head in a mad attempt to take possession of the Death Note. That thought was becoming more and more appealing by the moment. Said notebook was currently bound to the detective's body tightly. Raito grimaced at the thought of taking showers with something like that attached to his body like some sort of leach.

At the back of his mind, he briefly wondered how many braincells he was losing from sheer lack of any intellectual stimulation. He propped his right elbow on the window sill and languidly leaned his head against his hand. Raito's mind for once was as blank as the expression that L usually wore on his face.

The crystal that the Shinigami King had given him was clutched tightly in his hand. His thumb traced patterns similar to the way one would caress a lover's palm. Raito had become obsessed with the stone almost immediately after he came into possession of it. He had had it propped up on his desk when Ryuzaki and him were researching the Horn earlier.

Suddenly his stomach muscles cramped painfully. His mouth opened in an 'o' of surprise. He fought to keep his composure, and then to contain the contents of his stomach. An overwhelming and seductive urge to just touch the Death Note came over him. The moment he became aware of it fully, the need began to increase at an alarming rate. In the small part of his mind that wasn't focusing on his current physical pain, he felt shocked. Raito had told L a few days ago that the amount of time that he spent in the cell as Kira amounted to seven days. They assumed that it would take longer than that for the urges to hit.

Out of the corner of his eye, L saw Raito pale. He glanced up from his furious typing. "Raito-kun are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I just didn't expect to desire having the Death Note in my possession already."

"I wouldn't imagine that you would," L replied and gazed at his laptop again.

Raito tried to ignore the twisting in his gut as he gazed out at the scenery flashing by.

It seemed like an eternity before they pulled into Tokyo international airport.

By the time that they had gotten past security, it was nearly midnight. Raito suppressed a yawn and ignored the stares coming from the people surrounding them. It was of no consequence to him about what the general public thought about him. Even if he was chained to someone like Ryuzaki. They had 18 days.

_Ahem... **clears throat** I didn't have time to go through and edit this as much as I would like to have... so if you readers spot something that is odd... don't hesitate to tell me. I personally absolutely love this chapter though. Oh yeah! Please review._


	5. A few Minor Setbacks

_So yes... about my absence... I have a lot of excuses. I am sorry T.T. I had a two big family crises, my laptop broke for three weeks, school got in the way AND I had writer's block. Forgive me!**throws herself down at the feet of her readers.**_

_Did you know that more people have favourited this story than reviewed? It makes my eye twitch slightly._

_I also regret to announce that my updates will be sporadic at best until about the middle of April due to the enormous amount of projects that are being dumped on my head._

Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like I own Death Note? No? Well then why are you asking?

* * *

L led Raito down the plane aisle to their seats. Raito sat down in the window seat and once again leaned against the window. L crouched beside him. Since they had passed security, the twisting in Raito's gut had settled down to a minimum much to his relief. Laughter, conversation and the occasional whine of an infant filled the aisles. 

"Raito-kun," L said quietly as he bit on his thumb. "Do you find it strange that just as we get a lead, you start to crave the murder notebook?"

Raito turned towards him. "I didn't really think about it, Ryuzaki," he replied. "It is a bit unnerving, but I believe that there is nothing to worry about."

"I believe that there is a chance that someone else is interfering with this."

An announcement echoed around the plane from the speakers in Japanese and then English. "Attention passengers, this is the flight 118 bound for England. At this time we would like you to note the safety information in front of you and read it. Also take this time to note where the life jackets and oxygen masks are in case of emergency."

Raito fastened his seatbelt and watched the detective sit down on the seat normally before doing the same. Albeit with a sullen look on his face.

Raito sighed. "L, don't you think that they already have made it hard enough?"

"No. We figured it out too soon for their liking, Raito-kun."

"Most likely. But that doesn't mean that they are interfering or that if they are, they will be doing so again."

"True, but I have a hunch about this," L replied.

They lapsed into silence.

Raito woke from a doze to an announcement. "Attention passengers, please fasten your seat belts. We are about to land in the London international airport. The local time is 6:00 am."

Raito sleepily did as the announcement told him and gazed over at L. As he watched, the detective did the same. He noted idly that it seemed that L had not moved in several hours. L's joints had popped when he had moved moments ago. The only thing that had changed in the span of time that he was asleep was the addition of several sweet wrappers scattered haphazardly across the little table.

It was only a few minutes later that they landed in the London airport. L pushed the table up and paid no attention to the candy wrappers that now littered the ground. Raito couldn't help wrinkling his nose. L may have been the best detective in the world, but in his opinion that was no excuse to be sloppy. It was obvious that the detective was used to people picking up after him.

They had just gotten off of the plane when it happened. There was a loud explosion and the floor shook. People all around them began to scream. L turned to look at Raito expressionlessly.

Raito sighed in resignation and gave a curt nod to acknowledge to the detective was right.

There was a mad dash to the exits from the people surrounding them. Raito and L just stood there watching. Here was their proof. No terrorist would attack this early in the morning, when few were about yet.

"I wonder when they're going to figure out that it came from outside, Raito-kun," L stated, not really curious.

"We have to go outside anyway; unless you want to stay behind and give statements to the police."

As one, they both followed the masses of panicking people, past baggage claim to outside. There, framed against the pre-dawn sky was a huge inferno wrapped intimately around the frame of a semi-truck. Raito could tell that it had been carrying fuel. An unnatural wind blew caused by the fire, carrying the stench of burnt flesh and gasoline to Raito's nose. Even though they were standing more than fifteen metres away, they could still feel an overwhelmingly intense heat. It was like having your face right near an open stove door while the oven was on. There was another loud explosion and the ground shook as another car blew up nearby; probably from a stray spark that had caught, followed by more screaming. It felt like the end of the world.

Raito's lungs burned every time he inhaled. Finally, he turned to L. By some unspoken agreement, they both turned and ran from the scene. There was nothing to do but run. Going any closer would have been foolish. There was a haze of panic everywhere. Raito could feel it in his limbs. This was so much worse than seeing videos of terrorist attacks on television.

In the distance, they could here another car explode and more screams. Raito almost hesitated but he knew that if he went back to help the innocent, he himself could be caught in one of the explosions. At last, they skidded to a halt, unable to run any farther. They were a good four kilometres from the epicenter of the horror. L pulled out his cellphone and flipped it open. After dialing a number, he held the cellphone to his ear between his thumb and forefinger. He spoke rapidly in English for a few minutes and eventually hung up.

"Raito-kun, our ride will be here in a few minutes," L said as sirens howled in the distance.

Raito had to suppress a shiver as a powerful wind blew. It was ice cold and blowing towards the fire. Though it felt like an eternity, it was just minutes until the car pulled up.

The driver's window rolled down revealing a middle-aged man. "Arthur," L greeted.

"Ryuzaki, I brought the laptops you requested," the man replied. "Get in."

They both did as he said.

"Where to?" Arthur asked.

"The Royal Columbian Hotel," L replied immediately.

The car ride was quick and it was only minutes later that L and Raito were standing in front of the Royal Columbian Hotel. Raito couldn't help but notice that it was one of those five star hotels that only world leaders and the rich and famous would inhabit. The hotel was a gleaming white that made it stand out framed against the night sky. The doors were made of glass that shone in the street lights. The building made an impressive sight.

"Ryuzaki," Raito said. "This hotel screams L stays here."

The black haired insomniac turned to look at him the black case with his new laptop swung beside him. "I don't think that the Shinigami King cares where we are staying, Raito-kun. He can watch us from above."

Raito sighed. "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right," L said.

Raito didn't even bother to respond to that. The events of the day were catching up with him quickly.

L stepped a bit in front of him and pulled the door open. Raito stepped out of the way quickly to avoid getting swiped in the face by the offending object on hinges. They stepped inside. The inside was as beautiful as the outside. There was an enormous lobby with tiled floor. A red carpet lay in the centre of it. L led them up to the front desk where a brunette receptionist with a focused look on her face was sitting, staring at her computer screen. She looked up and jumped when she saw L looming over her biting his thumb. Raito had to hold back a snort of amusement.

"Can I help you?" she asked in English, snapping into her professional customer service facade almost immediately.

"I have a reservation under the name Thomas Hardy," L said.

"Okay, just a minute, Mr. Hardy," she said. Her fingers skittered across the keys as she typed something into her computer. "Your room is 117."

A couple of miles away, Arthur, having done his duty for L, was on his way home. He smiled as he realized that the amount of money that would soon be placed into his bank account would be enough to offset a large amount of his debts. The smile on his face froze and his arms trembled in shock as his chest clenched. He didn't even have the presence of mind to slam on the break, instead hitting the accelerator to the point where everything passed by him in a blur. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard the screaming of a truck horn and saw the blare of headlights coming his way. The witnesses that saw the accident would later state to the police that it looked like the man had committed suicide.

Raito sighed as he fell back on the king-sized bed in the centre of the room. He glanced over to L, who was just watching him.

Their gazes locked and held. L placed his thumb in his mouth and began to chew on it.

"Ryuzaki," Raito said suddenly. "Why did you go by 'Thomas' at the front office?"

"I only use Ryuzaki for trusted confidants, you should know that," L replied. "I do believe that Raito-kun's logic has been impaired from his exhaustion due to the eventful day that he has had."

Raito sighed as the detective pulled out his newly acquired computer and then froze as he thought of something. "Ryuzaki... what about clothing?"

"Surely Raito-kun remembered to bring the suitcases?" L asked.

"In the middle of what just happened down there?" Raito snorted. "Has that sugar addled your brain that much?"

"Sugar does not addle my brain, it fuels it." Raito could have sworn that the detective was pouting. "It was merely a joke."

"..." Raito had nothing to say to that. "Well what are we going to do for clothes?"

"I thought that would be obvious, Raito-kun. We're going shopping."

Raito raised an eyebrow. "You're the last person that I would expect to hear those lines from."

"Stereotypes are a terrible thing, Raito-kun."

Raito seethed wondering why he hadn't just let Misa kill the detective.

It was around ten o'clock the next morning by the time that they got to the mall. The stares that he and L attracted were second nature to him by now but they seemed to be much worse than usual. That could probably be attributed to the fact the clothing the two had on was filthy. Frankly, Raito just didn't care what people thought about him at the moment. He sighed glancing around at all of the people laughing, arguing or just enjoying the day with their friends. It didn't matter. These people had all done something in their lives that they could be considered criminals for. It just didn't matter anymore.

"Raito-kun?" L said.

Raito snapped back to reality suddenly. "Yes?" he said.

"Is there a specific store that you want to go to?"

Raito shook his head. "The stores here are different from Japan. I'll stop you when I see one."

"Ah yes, I forgot," L replied.

"You know it is insulting when you play that dumb act."

"Raito-kun seems to be in a more mature mood than usual today."

Raito didn't bother dignifying his comment with a response but instead nodded to the first store that looked like it suited his tastes. "How about that one?"

They turned and entered the shop.

"It doesn't look like they sell anything that I would normally wear," L mumbled tugging at a pair of pants on the rack as if they were diseased. .

Raito personally thought that the detective would look very strange if he were to wear the clothes that a regular human being wore. He shook his head chuckling in bemusement at the mental image that called forth.

"Raito-kun?"

"It's nothing, L" he said quietly. Raito's heart suddenly felt lighter than it had in ages. "Let's get this over with shall we?"

"I thought you would be the type to enjoy shopping, Raito-kun."

"Not really."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence once more.

It was the middle of the afternoon before they were done. Raito had found out much to his surprise that L was even more stubborn and picky than Raito when it came to his clothes. The detective just insisted that his clothes were just one certain style; the same that all of his other clothing was in.

L pulled out his cellphone as they stood out in front of the mall and dialed. In a few minutes, the car that had taken them to the mall earlier arrived. Unlike the driver from the night before, L didn't address the person by name but got directly into the back. Raito followed.

"The Royal Columbian Hotel," L said clearly.

Raito glanced up to the front and was surprised to have his eyes meet a dark sheet of glass. He glanced over to L.

"I could not contact Arthur," L shrugged. "That is not unusual. The man reminds me of an older version of Matsuda."

"That isn't what I am curious about," Raito replied.

"The black glass?"

Raito nodded.

"The driver is a employee of an underground getaway agency," L said. "Or simply put, they provide getaway cars for criminals."

"Let me guess, you didn't report them so that they would give you free rides when you need them?" Raito said dryly.

"You are correct, Raito-kun," L replied.

Raito resisted the urge to roll his eyes. For a man that called himself justice, L sure ignored the concept of punishing 'wrongdoers'.

It was about half an hour later when they had reached the hotel. The moment that the car stopped, Raito stepped out with shopping bags in hand. He walked swiftly towards the hotel, dragging the mildly amused detective behind him.

"I didn't know that Raito-kun was this eager to change," L said.

"Some of us care for our hygiene."

"Have I ever smelled like I don't care for my hygiene?" L asked.

Raito paused for a moment. "... No," he admitted and just dragged the insomniac detective upstairs.

Raito waited impatiently as L ran the card key through the slot. The detective hadn't given him one simply because the detective didn't trust him. Then again, Raito was almost certain that the detective made everything up as he went along in life.

The moment the door was open, Raito shoved past L and stalked straight to the bathroom. He slammed the door in L's face and locked it. Sighing, he dropped the bags on the counter. He peered into the mirror and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Even in the soft light he could see the shadows under his eyes, and the tousled, greasy hair that limply framed his face. Raito shuddered in disgust. He really needed a shower.

"Raito-kun is being childish," L stated through the door. The lock moved a little.

"I thought that you had already concluded that about Kira," Raito shot back. "And stop trying to pick the lock."

"But not about Raito Yagami," came the reply. "It is important that I keep an eye on Raito-kun at all times. I am saddened that he has forgotten that."

"You're childish yourself, don't sound so disappointed!" Raito yelled back ignoring the last bit as his stomach began to roll.

L flung open the door just as Raito made a dash for the toilet. The detective threw himself forward to avoid being dragged. Raito stumbled forward and fell to his knees in front of the bowl. He leaned his arms forward on the seat briefly cringing in disgust at how unsanitary the action was before he heaved. The remnants of his lunch fell into the toilet, and Raito's body shook as he threw up again.

Raito jumped in surprise as fingers danced through his hair, combing it out of his face as he threw up once more. He hadn't even sensed L sit down beside him. Raito shut his eyes as he felt his body spasm again and he dry heaved into the toilet. Spindly fingers carded through his hair in an attempt to soothe him. In the back of his mind, Raito wondered at the uncharacteristic action. He staggered to his feet and swayed slightly, his eyes now burning with exhaustion. L lifted one arm over his shoulders and gently helped him over to the sink. Raito washed out his mouth the best he could.

L and Raito then made it over to the bed and pushed him down onto it. "Raito-kun's condition it due to exhaustion and stress. In his current state he will not be able to get anything else done today," he stated simply.

"Why did you do that?" Raito asked. "To my knowledge, you usually avoid human contact at all costs."

"It is my understanding that friends do that for each other," the detective said hesitantly. "Since Raito-kun is a friend of mine, it is only natural for me to do that for him."

Raito's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean you actually meant what you said that day?"

"No I didn't. I wouldn't want Kira as a friend. However you, Raito Yagami, I now consider as a friend."

"Even though it is my fault that your name is written in the Death Note?" he asked hoarsely.

"That is the fault of Kira, Raito-kun, not you," L stated solemnly. "Now go to sleep. The sooner you are better, the sooner we can visit the museum and get the Horn of Angelus."

Raito chuckled in a way that ripped his sore throat. "Of course you would say that," he muttered, just before his eyes fell closed.

They had seventeen days remaining.

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Please review and tell me what you think. 


	6. In Sickness and in Health

_Hey all... sorry for the long absence... I am finally out of school though until September!! **bounces** Anyway. I will be getting back to my updating every two weeks for this fic. On the weeks I am not updating this one, I will be updating Pestilence so you all have a good time ahead of you XD. _

_Yes and I feel that they are a bit out of character this chapter for some reason... sorry if they are._

_Also... some of you may have noticed that I deleted the Author's Note from chapter five... mostly because it was bothering me sitting there like it was in the middle of my story XD. So yes, this is an actual update. I do think that those who reviewed last chapter may not be able to because of the deleted chapter... that may cause some problems...  
_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note... but I do own Raito and L! **many sharp pointy objects start falling from overhead** Aaaah! **Ducks** Okay I lied! I will someday though.

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In Sickness and in Health

Raito woke up the next morning to the clacking of L's fingers on his keyboard. He groaned wearily at the assault of light on his sensitive eyes. His body felt very cold and he shivered. L looked up from his computer.

"Raito-kun appears to be sick," he commented idly, before he cast his eyes back down to his computer. "This will put us behind significantly."

"Go to the museum without me then," Raito muttered.

"I am afraid I cannot do that. Raito-kun might escape."

"Will you mind telling me how I could escape with a fever," Raito growled.

"Raito-kun can be very charming when he wants to," L replied. "He could easily get one of the cleaning maids to let him go."

"Only you would think that. Why would I leave? I can't go anywhere. If I void this mission, I become a shinigami."

"Just like Raito-kun to think of himself before others," L replied.

"You are almost the same as me in that aspect," Raito said.

"I don't expect you to leave, Raito-kun. I would not be surprised if he were to lie in wait and attack me," L replied.

There was silence for a few minutes before Raito spoke up again.

"Surely you can't be working on there right now," Raito stated dryly.

"I have asked Watari to send me a few interesting cases," L said simply.

"Are you sure that you will even have time to finish them?" Raito asked grimly. "You're just doing this for a distraction aren't you."

L shrugged and cast his eyes back to his computer. "Raito-kun should get some sleep," he replied.

Raito sneezed and shivered. He sat up, pulled a tissue out of the box that was set beside his bed and blew his nose. Then he fell back into the pillows.

"I will never get any sleep without any medicine," he stated quietly.

L sighed and set his laptop aside. "Fine, I shall get Raito-kun some medicine. Which kind does he like?"

"Something that will put me to sleep," Raito replied as he tried and failed to suppress a shiver.

L pulled his cell out of his pocket and deftly opened it with his thumb and forefinger. He quickly keyed in a number and lifted it to his ear. "Shitaki-san? This is L. I would like you to go to the store and get some NyQuil."

Raito could hear the woman's disappointed tone from where he was lying.

"Yes, Shitaki-san, that is really all that you have to do to pay off your debt," L replied. "The room number is 117. See you in a few minutes."

L closed his phone and sat in the same position as he was before in the chair beside Raito's bed, the laptop perched on the very edge of the blanket.

"L... aren't you afraid of getting sick?" Raito asked weakly.

"I don't get sick and I must watch Raito-kun at all times."

Raito shrugged, his mind clouded because of the fever. He turned his head away from L, faced towards the door to their room and just stared off into space. Dimly he heard L start typing again and he felt his body relax a bit more at the familiar sound.

There was a knock at the door. Raito didn't even move as the clacking of keys ceased and L got up. The detective crossed the room into his range of vision and opened the door a crack, before slipping out.

Moments later, L returned holding a brown paper bag. The detective opened the bag and pulled the box out. He then opened the box and let both the box and the bag fall to the ground. He opened the container and poured a liberal amount into the little cup that came with it. L placed it in Raito's hand and watched as the younger guided it slowly to his mouth.

He drank it in one gulp, grimacing at the taste and then leaned back into the pillows. Raito coughed a bit. L turned away and focused on his computer once more. Raito sighed as he began to feel more restless.

There was an uneasy feeling, like a shadow at the back of his mind. As the minutes passed, it grew stronger. Raito began to feel very ill. Ill as in sick to his stomach. His whole world seemed to bend and twist into knots. He began to feel very hot and his mind went blank with need. He let out a yelp as he threw back the blankets.

"Is something wrong, Raito-kun?" L asked quietly as he glanced up from his computer.

Raito gave him a blank look. There was a terrifying need in his eyes that L could immediately attribute to the Death Note. "I need it. I know you have it, give it to me!"

"No."

With a shriek of rage, Raito dove at him. L dodged him the best he could and his computer crashed to the ground. The LCD screen splintered and then flickered off. L fell on the ground and was pinned down below him. Raito chuckled darkly and with an inhumane strength grabbed L's hands. The now delirious young man forced them to the floor above his head. L watched as a twisted smirk crossed Raito's face marring his good looks. His fingers tightened on L's wrists. The brief flash of pain that crossed L's normally empty eyes served to enrage Raito further.

Desperation gave L strength against the unnatural power holding him down. Slowly, without changing his expression, he raised his leg and slammed it in between the fork of Raito's legs. The would be attacker let out a grunt of pain and fell off of him, his body curled into the fetal position. Without wasting a second, L immediately got up and backed off. He waited a few moments, noting that Kira relaxed when he wasn't attacked immediately. He could feel the body underneath him trembling.

Suddenly Raito surged forward once more. L flew off and cracked his head on the windowsill. Spots sparked in front of his eyes and he nearly blacked out. He was shoved to the floor, his body ignoring his mind's screams to react. With dawning horror, he felt cold fingers slip around his throat and slowly begin to squeeze. L coughed and took a deep breath while he still could preparing for an attack. The demon above him noticed this. With a grin of feral delight, Raito- no Kira placed a knee on L's ribs and leaned down forcing the air to expel out of his nose.

He leaned forward. "If you give me the notebook, I'll stop," he said almost lovingly, albeit with a murderous intent in his eyes. He let up the pressure just enough to allow the other to answer. When L didn't respond and just drew gasping breaths, he shrugged. "Your choice."

So intent was Raito on making sure that L breathed his last, that he didn't react to the other's spindly fingers slipping down between where their thighs met. It was a surprise when L's hand drew out of his pocket gripping a syringe. L's hand reared up even as his body cried for the oxygen it so sorely needed.

The needle plunged into Raito's chest and emptied its contents into his bloodstream.

Raito gasped slightly, the pain bringing him back from the edge of that terrible need. His hands released L's neck and he began to weaken and he visibly swayed.

"Please," he gasped and collapsed.

L sighed and lifted the unconscious mass murderer as carefully as he could. Raito was abnormally heavy in this state. He heaved and hoisted him on the bed. Raito landed with an audible thud and the springs bounced. The teen's limp hair spread across the pillow in a way that was almost amusing to him. His face however was still that sickly white bordering on grey. L lifted the covers and dumped them unceremoniously on top of Raito.

Having nothing else to do, L walked over to the entrance of their rooms and picked up the phone. He called room service and ordered a strawberry shortcake, his favourite and only reserved for special occasions or when he was stressed. He then walked over to where Raito lay and righted the chair. After pulling it up beside the bed, he climbed on top of it to keep visual. When the cake arrived, L went to the door, paid the man who had brought it, and then returned to Raito. He laid his hand across Raito's forehead to test his temperature and jumped in surprise when he realised that it had gone up by about two degrees. L frowned. It was strange. The medicine included a fever reducer, yet Raito's temperature continued to rise. He sighed and sat back on his chair.

L couldn't help but feel a little bit irate at Raito. Even though it was technically Kira's fault that he had broken the laptop. Still, he was now bored because of it. As the hours passed, L became concerned. Raito should have woken up by now. The young man's breathing became more erratic. L felt his blood run cold as he heard a light rattling sound that seemed to reverberate through his head. The death rattle. One thing was sure, Raito was definitely hearing the bells.

L had already briefly debated on taking Raito to a hospital, before deciding that it probably wouldn't be wise. There was the chance that they kept him there for observation even after he had improved in health. That would set them back a few days and they couldn't afford to waste anymore time. L was now thinking differently. He hadn't expected Raito to get like this from what was usually a mild illness. He had checked on Raito's medical history back when he was investigating him as a suspect. The boy had never had gotten this sick before.

L's eyes widened as he came to a realization. Frantically, he slipped his hands under his shirt for the binding that held the murder notebook against his chest. He undid the clasps and it fell into his waiting hands. Cautiously, he pulled one of Raito's hands into one of his own and jumped when he realised that it was ice cold. He had expected that, but it was still a shock. Carefully, he slid the notebook into Raito's hands.

Almost immediately, Raito's breathing became easier and his death rattle was silenced. L watched as even though he was unconscious, Raito's hand curled around the black book possessively. It was sickening that something like this had gotten the other so easily. When someone who was both intelligent and optimistic got his hands on something like the Death Note, the results were always terrible to behold.

L reached out and gently laid his wrist against Raito's forehead. He felt relief flood through his veins when he realized that the fever had gone down to what it was before. The pained look on Raito's face had dissipated. Just to be safe though, and because his laptop was now broken, he kept a visual over the younger for the rest of the night.

It took another two days before Raito was well enough to venture around the hotel room without help and another day after that before he was able to walk. L had taken the Death Note back into his possession the morning after Raito's fever. It was now obvious that Raito needed the Death Note to survive. It worried L because if Raito gave in and killed, then they were both in deep trouble. Well, he would just have to make sure that didn't happen.

"Come on L, hurry up," Raito said impatiently. He glared at the detective that was across the room – well as far away from him as he could get with the chain - sucking on a lollipop. "We don't have all the time in the world."

"True, but Raito-kun could wait a few seconds longer," L mumbled around the sweet.

Raito sighed and sat down on the bed. He crossed his legs and made sure his back was to the annoying detective. "Like I said, we don't have all day and why can't you eat that on the way?"

He heard a popping sound as the lollipop was removed from L's mouth. "Actually I believe you said 'we don't have all the time in the world', Raito-kun. To answer your question, I don't like to eat sweets while I am walking. It sets me up for a head ache later dropping my reasoning skills by twenty six percent."

"Ryuzaki you are so annoying!" Raito yelled and clutched his head in his hands.

"I'm glad that Raito-kun is feeling better."

Raito sighed.

True to L's word, it was only a few minutes before he finished his sweet and they found themselves just outside of the building.

"The museum is only a few blocks away. I think we will walk," L said simply and began to head down the street. Raito followed, not wanting to be dragged around by the chain.

Just as L said once again, the museum was only a few blocks away from the hotel. Raito sighed. L had told him about what had happened the night he was so sick. It wasn't that big of a problem though. Considering that the Horn of Angellus lay right ahead of them, it wouldn't be too long now. There was still a possibility that the horn was a fake, but Raito felt that it couldn't be. Rather, he didn't want it to be. Becoming a shinigami was not on his to do list by any stretch of the imagination. He had a feeling that those who became shinigami had their memories erased as well. Ryuk didn't seem to remember anything other than being a shinigami as well.

L stopped suddenly and Raito, too caught up in his thoughts, almost ran into him. He looked up. They were standing in front of the museum. They both held their breaths as they traveled up the steps and paused. They glanced at each other and then back at the door. This was it. Behind this door they would find the one item that would end this nightmare. Raito allowed a rare smile to grace his lips as L reached for the handle...

They had fourteen days remaining.

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_This chapter is a little shorter than usual I know. The reason for that if I didn't stop writing there, I would have made chapter six and seven one mega ultra chapter so... yeah... please review?_

_I've been thinking as well... would anyone like to beta this story? _


	7. A Disaster

_Well, I'm back. I know this has been posted a few hours late, but I put off writing this until last night. Then I was too exhausted to do anything when I got home last night so I went to sleep instead... It's my first week of full time work and my work is mostly physical labour. I want to diiiie..._

_I have to get ready for work now again, So I'll answer any reviews and edit this when I get home tonight. Sorry in advance for any mistakes!_

Edited!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note. I only own a virus infested computer.

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A Disaster

L opened the door and they stepped into the lobby of the museum. Raito glanced around him with mild curiosity. The place gave off a distinct air of wealth. The floors were proudly taken care of. They would be too as they were made out of either granite or marble. The architecture in the entrance reminded him of some of the ancient Greek ruins that he had seen on the Internet and in books.

"Will Raito-kun hurry up? I want to see the gift shop first," L said tugging on the chain impatiently.

"Don't people usually do that after a visit to the museum?"

"I need some hard candy," the detective muttered.

"Do you even know where it is?"

"No," the detective replied. "I suggest that we wander around and look for it." He proceeded to drag Raito through several exhibits, ignoring his protests.

"Ryuzaki! Will you just listen to me for a minute?" Raito snarled in exasperation.

"Fine if Raito will be appeased, what is it?"

"We just passed a directory two exhibits ago. If you want to find the gift shop that badly, then why don't you just look at it?"

"I didn't notice," L replied quietly.

"And here I thought you were supposed to be the greatest detective in the world," Raito sighed. "Here, I'll take you back to it."

This time it was L's turn to be dragged by the chain connecting them together. Raito didn't even dream of this being revenge for all of the times that the detective seemed to jerk him around. Nope. Not one bit.

"Is Raito-kun sour about all of the times that I have lead him places and ended up dragging him?" L wondered aloud.

"What ever gave you that idea?"

"We passed the directory already."

At last, with all of these obstacles cleared, they ended up up in front of the dimly glowing white box. Carefully, Raito traced out the map carefully, looking for the gift shop.

"Here it is," L replied. He tapped his finger on a spot that was on the opposite side where Raito was looking.

Raito took a glance at the route to the gift shop from the obnoxious 'You are here!' sign whose only mission seemed to be to blind every person that used the map. It was a neon shade of pink.

"It's not far," L said. "Let's go."

And so the dragging game began again.

The gift shop was typical to what one would expect at a museum. It was brightly lit, and had many souvenirs, such as miniature plastic pyramids crammed onto already overflowing shelves. There was one wall dedicated solely to t shirts that had the logo of the museum on it. Underneath the shirts were backpacks of varying colours and designs. As to be expected at any tourist place, the prices were outrageous.

L wandered over to where the backpacks lay and picked the one nearest to him up. It was a dark green colour and the detective seemed to inspect it for a moment before deciding to purchase it. They wound themselves around a rather large island and in front of the poor selection of candy. Raito waited impatiently as L deliberated over which one to get.

After about ten minutes, Raito lost his patience. "Ryuzaki, if it is that hard to choose, then why don't you just get one of each?"

"An excellent choice Raito-kun."

With that L deftly snatched one of each candy off of the shelf and handed several of the bags to Raito. They took L's choices up to the front counter and the teenage boy at the counter scanned the items with a bored look on his face.

"That'll be eighty-eight twenty-three," he said.

L dutifully handed him the money and proceeded to shove all of the candy bags save one back into the backpack. L slung it over his shoulder and opened the bag he was still holding.

"Can we go see the exhibits now?" Raito sighed.

L took his their time wandering around. At the back of his mind, Raito felt like they should be retrieving the Horn of Angellus instead. He voiced these concerns to L.

"Very well, if Raito-kun insists, I'll tell him why we are wandering around," L sighed. "I merely thought that we could use an hour or two to relax. Even if I phoned the curator earlier today and he claimed to have it on display but that I as L could not procure it. He said that he didn't believe me and I, of course, could not call in any proof. That would break our contract with the Shinigami King."

"So we are just going to waltz in there and steal it?" Raito said disbelievingly.

"Is there a problem, Raito-kun?"

"Well wouldn't it have been better if we had done this at night?"

"Negative, Raito-kun." L stuck his hand in his pocket and indicated to the large green bag on his back.

"What about the cameras?" Raito asked immediately.

"I took the liberty of hacking into the camera systems where it is located. It is giving the guards a continuous feedback loop of an empty room. So just relax and enjoy the exhibit and we will take it when we get to it."

"We can relax after the Horn of Angellus is recovered and our lives are no longer in danger," Raito snapped. Intellectually he knew that the Horn of Angellus was probably safe. No one knew that L had tripped the security system in advance after all, but at the same time he thought it wise that they take it as swiftly as possible. There was a chance that the Shinigami King might interfere. He felt royally annoyed that the detective seemed to have forgotten that both of their lives were on the line here. Yet... part of him wanted to relax like the detective suggested. They had to locate the Horn and Raito had to wind it before the twenty third day or else not only would L die, but he would be turned into a shinigami.

"Ryuzaki, I think we should go get it now," Raito said quietly.

"It would increase the chances of us being caught if we go directly to the exhibit," L said in an undertone.

"Would you rather be caught, or dead?" Raito asked.

L paused. Raito did have a point. "If you insist."

They quickly made their way over to the section on historical European artifacts. No one was around. That was a stroke of luck. Raito couldn't help but pause at a case that showed sections of parchment believed to be religious texts. Of course, most of the items that were in the museums were only copies. Prized relics this old would not be in the public eye, where a simple mistake or disaster would result in the destruction of them. There was a good chance that the Horn of Angellus on display was fake, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

L and Raito turned the corner only to be met with an empty case.

"I guess it was the real one after all," L stated quietly.

"Or someone thought it was," Raito replied.

"We should ask at the front desk or find the curator."

There was a strange feeling in the air as they wound their way through the aisles and exhibits. All of the visitors were looking at the items on display and not sparing L and Raito more than a single glance. Raito's blood ran cold and he shuddered violently.

"Raito-kun?" L inquired.

Raito shook his head. "It's probably nothing. I just have a bad feeling."

The eeriness worsened as they approached the customer information services, which was near where they had bought their tickets. The girl at the counter looked up at them from her computer and smiled. Goosebumps appeared on Raito's arms and L bit his thumb thoughtfully.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked.

"Yes, could we talk to the curator of this museum?" L asked.

"Well... I don't think..." she stuttered hesitantly.

"Please?" Raito asked and flashed her his best smile.

"Al- alright, I'll get him for you."

She picked up a phone that was beside her computer and dialed the number.

"Hi, this is Carrie Dreavous from Customer Services. Could I speak to Mr. Smith?" she said. "I see. Can you please patch me through to him?" There was a moment's pause. "You can? That's wonderful!"

"Hi is this Mr. Smith the curator? Great, I have a couple of museum visitors that would like to speak with you."

Carrie proffered the phone to the handcuffed duo. Raito smacked L's hand away. "He's already heard your voice once hasn't he?" he hissed. "He'll recognize it."

Carrie the customer services person just stared blankly at the both of them.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other line. "Is this Raito Yagami I'm speaking to or L Lawliet?"

Raito's paled to a pasty grey colour as he fought to keep his composure. "It's ... Raito Yagami."

"I have a message from the Shinigami King," the man continued. His voice became mocking. "Tick tock. A little under fourteen days left. The Horn has disappeared once again but if you find out where it is this time, you may keep it. Happy hunting little humans."

Raito growled angrily as inhuman sounding laughter echoed in his ear. Almost immediately afterwards, there was a choking sound and he heard a body hit the floor. He handed the phone back to Carrie and she smiled then started to choke. Her eyes widened and the phone she held fell to the floor with a clatter. Her hands flew to her heaving chest and she collapsed, falling out of her chair as she died.

L blinked at the scene. It wasn't the first time either of them had seen someone die of a heart attack, but this... was so much more terrifying. They both heard another body hit the floor and more groaning.

"He can't mean to ... " Raito started in disbelief.

"Kill everyone in the entire museum?" L ended.

They tore out of the room and sure enough found people groaning as they died, or the already dead collapsed on the ground. Men, women, and children of all ages lay there, dying. Raito felt bile rise in his throat as he saw this. Was this what had happened every time that he had killed criminals? It was sickening. Beside him, L morosely shoved his candy back into his pockets and stared at the awful scene before him.

"Come on Raito-kun," L said quietly. "We have to inform the proper authorities."

Gently he lead, Raito out of the museum and away from the scene of death. As soon as they were back out in the sunlight, L pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed nine one one.

"Hello, operator? Get the police down to The British Museum," L said. "There's been an attack by Kira. I also suspect that there are several young children inside still alive."

After a moment, he snapped the phone shut. "They're coming," he said. "And they request that we stay here so that we can answer a few of their questions."

Raito sighed and sat down on the steps. L sat down beside him. Neither of them said anything. There was nothing needed to be said. Sirens howled in the distance and within a few minutes, they could see several cop cars in the distance. They screeched to a halt in front of the museum where L and Raito sat in quiet contemplation.

Within seconds, the cops swarmed the scene.

"Will you two please come with me? It should be made clear here that you are not under arrest, we just need you two to answer a few questions. It wouldn't be good for your mental health to be here when they start dragging out the bodies."

In front of them stood a cop who looked to be in his mid forties with a light brown mustache. He held an air of arrogant self importance around him. Out of the corner of his eye, Raito saw L frown. It was clear to him that neither of them was going to like this man much.

L would have refused, but after taking one glance at Raito. The young man's face was still very pale which ruined his hard won expression of composure. He was still probably thinking about how he had executed the killings as Kira and how each victim had ended up like this. Even if this was most likely against protocol, it would be much wiser if Raito was moved.

"We'll go with you," L said quietly.

Raito and L stood up and they were lead to the nearest police car where they were sat down in the back seat. The former Kira just leaned his head against the window and stared out of it, deep in thought as the car began to move through the city. _Is this my fault?_ He wondered. Sure he hadn't actually been the one to write down their names this time, but that didn't mean that he was in the clear. It seemed selfish to him now in a way. He knew in the long run that even with the deaths that had been caused today, there would be more if he was turned into a shinigami. Raito couldn't help but wonder if the end justified the means.

In no time at all, they were pulling into the station. The officer stepped out of the car and opened their door. He lead them into the station. It was a very typical type of headquarters one expected for the regional police. The walls were painted a light grey and there were waiting chairs and a desk for reception as well. L and Raito were lead past this all and past the cells and the interrogation rooms.

"This is my personal office. Just come sit down and we can talk."

The man sat behind his desk and regarded them thoughtfully.

"Is there anything I can get you two to drink?"

"No thanks," Raito and L both said in unison.

"My name is Constable Jacobs, may I inquire what yours are?"

L took the liberty of answering. "I am Thomas Hardy, and this is Raito Yagami."

Constable Jacobs took out a notepad and scribbled the information down. "Alright ... and what were you doing at the museum?"

"We were doing the tourist thing," Raito answered quietly this time. "That was our first stop."

"Kira's gotten a little corrupt, hasn't he? He just killed several innocent people."

"Yes he has," L agreed idly. He saw Raito tense out of the corner of his eye.

"Did you notice anything suspicious before the deaths happened?"

"No," Raito answered. "Everyone was acting normally and there were no suspicious people."

"Do you find it odd that you two were the only ones to survive?" the man asked.

"Of course," L replied without missing a beat. He bit his thumb. "Who wouldn't find it odd?"

"Why are you two handcuffed together?" the Constable asked.

"I believe that the answer to that particular question is none of your business and is not relevant with the case," L stated bluntly.

"I'm afraid I have no choice then," the man said. "You are both to be kept here under the suspicion of being Kira. You are under arrest."

"What?" Raito stated in shock.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will -"

"Then we refuse to answer anymore questions," L replied bluntly. "Take us to our cell."

Fourteen days still remaining.

* * *

_Please review! And what are your thoughts, everyone?_


	8. Suspicion and an Interrogation

_So this is chapter eight. I hope you enjoy. I'll answer your reviews when I get back as I have work in less than an hour. I'll be editing this when I get home. Edited!  
_

_I thank you all for the reviews last chapter. They made me all warm and fuzzy inside._

To Liz: L's explanation as to why they are handcuffed together is explained in not this chapter but the next one. Thank you for the review.

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Death Note. cries

* * *

Suspicion and an Interrogation

"I'll have to search you first," Constable Jacobs said as he approached them. You might have weapons or evidence on you."

Raito held back a visible gulp. Since they had left Japan, L had carried the Death Note bound to his body. There was no doubt in his mind that this man would find it. If he had not been a police officer, they would have fought their way against him, either verbally or intellectually. Resisting the man's attempt to arrest them would only give him a real reason to keep them where they were. It would make them not only seem violent, but actually Kira as well. Which Raito could admit he was a little of both.

As if to make his apprehension even worse, Constable Jacobs decided to search him first.

"Hold your arms out," the man ordered. Raito complied and spread his arms so that the man could lightly run his fingers all over his body. Of course, he found nothing.

Constable Jacobs moved onto L who had his arms out already. He began to pat his hands down the detective's body. There was still some hope. The shirt that L wore was as baggy as all of the others that he owned. Alas, it was not to be. The man paused as his fingers caught slightly on something.

"Hello, what's this?" Constable Jacobs carefully lifted L's shirt up.

The policeman's eyes widened in surprise. Deftly, he unclasped the notebook from the belt and the pocket that held it. He idly flipped through it pausing to skim over the names and rules written down in it.

"A notebook of death?" he muttered to himself. "Some of these names match notorious criminals that died around the same time Kira appeared."

The man clapped the book shut and looked up at the pair. "If anything, this is enough to hold you," he said. "Do you have a key for that chain?"

"I lost it," L stated bluntly.

"Where? In the museum?"

"Japan."

The Constable swore loudly. It was clear to the both of them that he was hoping to separate them. It was a simple psychological technique. If they were indeed Kira, which Raito of course was, it would decrease the amount of trust that they had in each other. In theory, they would have a harder time not slipping up. Even though they were both genii, Raito could honestly say that he didn't trust L thoroughly. The detective had lied often to him and everyone else. Sometimes for his own amusement. Though they had been handcuffed together for many months, the man was still in many ways an enigma to him. Then again, the man had called him his first ever friend, but that statement was ambiguous in its meaning. L could have easily meant the term friend to mean 'equal'. Or, what Raito had concluded then and still did now, he had lied.

There were other things that had shown that L considered him a friend despite this. Helping him when he was sick just a few days ago and initiating human contact – which they both knew he abhorred – to help make him more comfortable. If it had been anyone else other than L, Raito was sure his pride would have been irrevocably damaged. Imagine, an ordinary member of the masses seeing him so vulnerable. It would have been terrible.

Then again, it could have all been calculated, leading him into a web of deceit. Raito mentally shook his head. Now he _knew_ he was being paranoid. There was no way that L could have predicted this. They were to call in no aid in the hunt for the Horn of Angellus. The Shinigami King himself had told them so. This was when it was a problem. Originally, they could just have contacted Watari and the man would have arranged for them to be released. In this case, they would have to find their own way out. So, what would L have to gain from having them both arrested when the detective's life was on the very line? The answer, of course, was nothing. If L was to betray him, it would be later, not now.

Raito pulled himself out of his thoughts as handcuffs were slapped over their wrists. Constable Jacobs lead them back the way they had come just minutes ago. As expected, it was rather quiet. This was a police station after all, and there were relatively few cells, only about fifteen or so. He stopped them in front of the one nearest to the front.

As Constable Jacobs dug his hand into his pocket and fished for the keys, Raito glanced into what would be their home until they found a way to escape. It was the classic jail cell. The walls were a dreary grey. A simple bed without any sheets lay in one corner and a toilet off to the side of it. The bars were made of iron that was now beginning to rust. Light filtered in from a window that was too small for any man to get through. Raito glanced at L thoughtfully. There was a chance, he supposed that the detective could fit through it, but it would be a tight squeeze and then he would have Raito to drag through the window. Despite the fact that he kept himself in relatively good shape, Raito knew there was no way he could fit through there. He shook his head, the stress was causing him to think about odd things.

By this time, Constable Jacobs had found his keys. The man slipped the correct one into the slot. The door swung open with a the screech of hinges made when they were in desperate need of oil. He shoved the two in, took off the handcuffs and slammed the door shut with a bang. The key turned with an audible click in the lock. Swinging the ring of keys in his hand, he walked off whistling.

Raito didn't even notice that L had begun to walk away from him until the chain jerked his wrist and he was forced to follow him over to the bed. The detective stepped onto the bed with his feet and settled down into his customary crouch. His head hung slightly and he didn't even look at Raito.

Raito blinked. Here was another sign that he could trust L. L was showing that he was troubled. This meant that he was also asking for help.

"Ryuzaki?"

L looked up at him. There was a weariness about his eyes. "That... was my first time witnessing the deaths of so many people right in front of me. I'm just a little tired and I want cake."

Raito nodded. "I know," he said simply.

L gave a cursory glance of the cell. He got up and crawled under the bed. He felt around cautiously and stood, before going over to the toilet and doing the same. Raito raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything until he was done. L glanced back and saw the expression on the face of his cellmate.

"You can never be too careful, Raito-kun," he mumbled as he returned to his original position on the bed. "Especially about what I want to say to you."

"Ryuzaki?"

"Have you ever wondered if what we are doing is right?" L asked.

"Right? Of course it's not right. People are dying aren't they? But more would die if we didn't. Both because I would be a shinigami, and you wouldn't be around to solve cases."

"I have thought of that, Raito-kun."

"Then what is the problem? I know I don't know everything about you, but you have never let morals get in your way before now."

"There is something about witnessing so many die in front of my eyes," the detective muttered.

"I had a similar thing happen to me when I first used the Death Note. I had to remind myself time and again of all the lives I would be saving by preventing wars and killing the criminals of this world."

"That's very Kira-like, Raito-kun," the detective said biting his lip.

Raito ignored the jibe. "Well, what value would the lives of those already taken by this quest of ours have if we just gave up? We owe it to them to finish it."

"The realisation that more would die if we do and to honour their sacrifice by doing so."

"Doesn't it make more sense if we take the route that is more beneficial to us and society in general?"

"Yes, but - "

"How guilty do you feel about those people's deaths in the museum?"

"Just like Kira to think of things like that," L muttered.

Raito was unable to ignore the detective this time. Rage and annoyance flooded his body. He was so angry! Why would the L always revert to antagonizing him? It was another of L's more annoying quirks. He drew back his fist, intending to shut the other up for a few minutes. He began to drive his fist forward.

"Go ahead, Raito-kun," L said quietly. "Punch me."

Raito's fist jerked to a halt millimeters before L's nose and he dropped it to his side.

"After all, it would make both of us feel better, Kira."

Raito slapped him. Hard.

The detective lost his balance and fell to the floor from the force of the blow. Raito watched dispassionately as L raised his hand to his cheek in shock.

"Rai -"

"Yes I slapped you," Raito replied quietly. "You have a habit of trying to make me angry whenever you are stressed or, it seems, guilty."

"Raito-kun."

"So how guilty do you feel?"

Before L could answer, Raito went on.

"You know you are more right to blame me. This thing is all of my fault," Raito said quietly. "If I had never seen the Death Note fall from the sky that day, we wouldn't be here right now. The deaths of all those innocents today..."

"That's not what I feel guilty about, Raito-kun," L said. "When you first confessed that you were Kira and that I only had twenty-three days to live, my first instinct was to kill you. Right now... I feel that I should have just killed you despite the fact that you wouldn't be held responsible for your actions and I would have died."

Raito sat there for a moment and sighed. "It wouldn't have mattered. The end result would still be the same. I have a theory about what happens to Death Note owners when they die."

"What is this theory?" L asked curiously.

"I believe that they become shinigami."

"That rule about them not being able to engage in intercourse," L stated.

"Exactly. The shinigami must have come from somewhere."

"It would make sense, Raito-kun, but it is only a theory still."

Raito sighed. "The main point is that this is not your fault. Stop blaming yourself."

L's seemed to lighten up slightly and his lips twitched. "Alright, Raito-kun, I shall cease and desist."

The cell door swung open and dinner was slid in. Or what passed for dinner.

Raito got off the bed and picked up the two trays that waited there for them and brought them over to the bed. He watched as L looked at his meatloaf and mashed potatoes in distaste before he picked up a fork. Cautiously, the detective poked the food with the utensil. When it didn't bite back, L scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes and stuck it in his mouth. Raito could see that he had to fight to keep from spitting it out. The look of distaste that crossed the detective's face made it almost worth being arrested.

Raito finished his meal. L did not.

* * *

It must have been just before dawn when the cell door was swung open with enough force that to bang it against the wall. Raito sat up beside L, who hadn't even gone to sleep rubbing his eyes blearily.

"Wha – What on earth?" He yawned, brain not working properly.

The light overhead, controlled by a switch that was outside their cell flickered on revealing Constable Jacobs.

"It seems like they are going to interrogate us, Raito-kun," L stated idly biting his thumb.

"_Now?!_"

"Affirmative, Raito-kun."

"On your feet," he said.

It was a good thing that Raito hadn't even taken off his shirt for going to sleep. It was for decency's sake, but he was glad the man had not found him in that more vulnerable position. That would might have given the constable a small bit of psychological leverage over them. They both stood up. Raito was now fully awake and aware.

"What's going on?" he asked, in hopes that L was wrong, which he rarely was.

"It took me awhile to find a tool that would saw through your chain. I need to speak with you both privately."

"Ah," Raito said, dread overcoming him as they were handcuffed once more.

They were lead to one of the interrogation rooms down the hall.

Raito glanced around. It was much more pleasant than the place L had locked him up for fifty days. After all, his feet weren't cuffed and the place was warm unlike where he had spent his time in solitary confinement. That was another psychological trick. Making the person vaguely uncomfortable was classic.

Constable Jacobs sat them down in two chairs and grabbed the chain that connected them. He pulled out a simple metal saw and began to hack away at the chain. Right away Raito knew that its teeth must have been coated with diamond dust. The metal chain links had been designed to be extra tough. As expected, it took more than an hour of loud sawing before it broke through the chain. The man stood up, sweat beading on his face. He grabbed L and lead him from the room and most likely to another interrogation chamber. The door slammed shut behind him with a thud.

Raito was confident that he wouldn't crack. For the first seven days in solitary confinement, he had been Kira, and he hadn't said anything about it. When he realised that L knew that he was lying, like he had expected him to, he had discarded his memories of Kira. He wouldn't have that option in this case, but he was sure that he wouldn't need it either. L's intelligence and investigative skills far outranked this man's. Any idiot knew that Kira would not be foolish enough to be at the scene of one of his murders. Especially when he could kill from afar and had no need to be at the crime scene.

His only other worries were that L would crack (which he really did doubt would happen) or that he would have one of his attacks as Kira. That would be interesting to say the least. Maybe he could break out of the interrogation chamber. L had told him that he was physically stronger when Kira took over. The faint bruises on L's neck even now testified to that.

The door opened again. A female police officer came in. She held a notebook and pen tucked under her arm. "Hello, I'm Constable O'Lowry and I need to ask you a few questions. Do you understand and comply?"

"Yes," Raito said idly. "Shouldn't I have a lawyer?"

"In a case like this, we don't usually give suspects lawyers," she said. "What is your name?"

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't be answering any questions."

"If you do not answer my questions, you will be executed in secret."

"That sounds... very American."

"Don't push your luck," she said. "What is your name?"

"Raito Yagami."

"Your English is quite good, but I still detect an accent. What is your business in England?"

"Tourism."

"Where were you yesterday morning at around nine o'clock?"

"I was at my hotel with Ryuzaki," he said quietly.

"What is it called? We checked all of the hotels in the area and didn't find a booking under either of your names."

"It is called the Royal Columbian Hotel," Raito said. "My friend is rather paranoid. He registered under an assumed name. Thomas Hardy I believe."

"When you left, where did you go?"

"The British Museum."

"Why?"

"They had an artifact that we wanted to see. The Horn of Angellus."

"Are you aware this artifact had been stolen and all of the cameras in the museum were shorted out around the time that you two arrived?"

This was news to Raito. L had told him that he only stopped the ones in the room that was supposed to house the artifact. "It was gone when we arrived there."

"Why didn't you just leave after that?"

Raito raised his eyebrow. "After we paid that much to get in? We wanted to take a look at the other exhibits and we phoned the curator about the artifact."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing," Raito lied. "He just laughed. It sounded a bit deranged and there was a thud after he finished so he is probably dead as well."

"I see," she wrote something down. "Now let me ask straight out to you. Are you Kira?"

_Here we go,_ Raito thought. _This is where it will get tedious. _

Thirteen days remaining.

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_A little character development of sorts and the beginning of the interrogations. Did this all at least seem realistic? I think that L was a bit out of character with his issues about the museum. Then again, I doubt he has actually seen anyone killed like that. He doesn't usually interact fully in cases and then all he sees are pictures. Is there anything anyone can think of that would help me improve it? Please review and tell me. _

_Until next time. _


	9. Some Discouraging Thoughts

_Welcome to chapter nine of 'Shinigami' everyone! bounces I got only two reviews for last chapter T.T ... I did expect it because of L and Raito's seemingly OOC behaviour. If anyone wants me to explain it, drop me a line so I can fix it._

_So I worked a bit on the 'Voice' of the characters in this chapter, which is hard to do since both of them are so reserved in the canon version... but I did my best._

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Death Note, but I have every piece of fan paraphernalia possible XD.

* * *

"No, I'm not Kira," Raito said calmly.

"With all of the evidence stacked against you, how can you say that?" she asked.

"The evidence is all circumstantial," Raito said bluntly. _Unless someone gets the bright idea to test the Death Note._ "Tell me, if you were Kira, would you show up at the scene of your crime if you didn't have to?"

"We're focusing on you here," she said calmly.

"Well would you?" Raito asked still playing the part of his own lawyer.

She didn't budge.

Raito shrugged and answered his own question. "I wouldn't if I had supernatural abilities. I wouldn't need to be acknowledged by my victims. After all, isn't Kira known around the world for what he does?"

Raito almost shuddered. Despite everything, he still enjoyed explaining how he had operated to someone else. He had reformed for the most part and wasn't planning on killing anyone in the near future, but there was a rush of pleasure that went along with explaining a bit of his plan. Mentally he shook his head in bemusement. _I'm just like those villains you see all of the time on children's shows and in books. I love explaining my master plan. _

"I don't know," she said evenly. "I'm not Kira."

"You're interrogating me as if I am indeed Kira," Raito said. "Shouldn't you have at least looked at how Kira acts and compared it to your suspect?"

"I wasn't assigned to the case," she replied still as calm as ever. "And I don't have to explain myself to you. Are you Kira?"

"No I'm not," Raito said.

"Are you sure?"

"I think I would know if I was, wouldn't I?"

"Sometimes people commit crimes without conscious knowledge of it. Are you sure you aren't?"

"_Yes!_" came the exasperated reply. "I think I would have noticed if I was killing people with supernatural powers."

At the same time that Raito was being interrogated by Constable O'Lowry, Constable Jacobs had just entered the room in which L was waiting patiently for him.

"So now that you've had some time to sit there and - "

"I'm bored," L interrupted idly. He gnawed on his thumb for emphasis.

There was a reason for the detective's agitation. The chair that he was currently sitting on was wobbly and looked as if it would break at any second. He didn't want to risk that. There was already a small power play going on since Jacobs was standing at a level higher than him. It would look weak if he fell, forty percent be damned. Not that he would have any problem antagonizing the cop. The man already had a healthy temper that he could exploit.

It would be amusing to see anyway. L already knew that they had to get out of there. They had less than two weeks to track down the Horn of Angelus and it would be tough with the local police on their tails. It was bad either way. If they stayed and someone decided to test the Death Note, then the one thing that he had been trying to prevent would occur. When he had laid eyes on it, he had decided that Kira would be executed in secret and that the notebook would be destroyed. It wouldn't do for it to fall into the wrong hands. Of course, his views on Kira had changed. Neither of them would survive long enough to stand trial anyway. He was still set to die in thirteen days. Raito would be turned into a shinigami as per the deal.

L wished, now more than ever, that he could get into contact with Watari and clear this misunderstanding up. It wasn't possible thanks to the rules that the Shinigami King had put into place. _Why did Raito-kun do it? Why did he want to save me so badly? _Of course, he already had the answers to both of those questions. Even if he didn't feel satisfied with them.

L knew that both he and Raito had to escape within the next few hours. There was a chance that the Death Note was still in the building and had not been sent off for tests, which would most certainly happen. L had run some analyses on it before in the hopes of coming up with what it was made of, but the results had been inconclusive. They had stated that whatever the Death Note was made of, it wasn't any materials found on Earth.

If one were to add the small compulsion that seemed to be on the book, he knew that it was rather likely that it would be put to the test.

"Are you listening to me?" Constable Jacobs blustered. "I said you can't just cut me off like that ignore me!"

"Jacobs, I want a lawyer," the detective stated deliberately leaving out the 'constable'.

The man sputtered indignantly for a few moments before understanding dawned in his eyes. "Oh so you two are Kira,"

"I want to makes sure that you don't deprive me of my rights in this country."

"Considering what you are suspected of, a lawyer is the least of your worries. The execution and trial will most likely be carried out in secret," Jacobs said. A look of delight crossed his face.

"I assume you will be getting a promotion for this?" L stated.

"I caught Kira! Of course I'm going to get a promotion," Jacobs snorted.

"So, this Death Note, what is its function?"

"Raito-kun and I merely had wagers for entertainment even if it was in poor taste," the detective said with an innocent face. "It was a list of who actually died. Raito-kun had a white book that had the guesses in it but he lost it a few weeks back."

"When the murders stopped taking place," Jacobs said.

"The murders still took place for another two weeks," L said immediately.

"We only have your word on that."

"And Raito-kun's."

"Do you mind if I test it after we finish analyzing it?"

"Go ahead."

"Whose handwriting is in that book?"

"Mine," L lied. If the man did decide to test it, before they escaped, it would be better to have L do so than Raito. They wouldn't fail in their quest if he killed a convicted felon. It was one of the loopholes the Shinigami King had left open. Though if Raito was right, it would damn him and he would become a shinigami after death as well.

"I see," the man muttered.

"Was the chain part of your act as well?" Jacobs asked. "Why did you wear it?"

"What do two young men usually do when chained together willingly?" L said expressionlessly.

"..." The man went a bit red.

"Precisely."

Raito sighed and stared at the wall. Through the his small, barred window he could see that it was midday. He had been interrogated all morning. It had gotten to the point where all O'Lowry had been doing was asking him if he was Kira and him responding negatively to it.

L was not there, but Raito had expected that the moment the chain connecting them was cut. After all, who would keep to suspected murderers together when they could keep their story straight and defeat the purpose of the 'divide and conquer' strategy? Anyway, as far as he knew, the detective was still being interrogated. _Probably driving the person questioning him up the wall, _he thought.

For what seemed to be the zenith time since he had been sent back to his cell, he recapped the amount of time that was left. Thirteen days. Thirteen days to find the Horn of Angelus. Which could be anywhere. Even with the skills both he and L had possessed, it would take awhile to find out where it had gone. They were lucky to have found it so quickly the first time.

Raito glared at the wall and felt like clutching at his temples and screaming. This was _not_ how he had expected things to work out yesterday morning. He felt his heart pound madly, echoing the emotions that he refused to show on his face. He was so frustrated. The worst thing was, it was dumb luck that had gotten him there and not the creature that so reminded him of Ryuk. The Shinigami King would never break the rules if he operated like Ryuk did. It would take the amusement factor out of it for him if he broke his own rules. Raito narrowed his eyes and glared at the wall. Even so, he bet both him and the Shinigami King were watching them from one of the viewpoints to Earth from the Shinigami Realm, greatly amused.

It was Constable Jacobs' fault in the end. After all, that bastard was the one who had arrested them in the first place. Idiots like him were the reason that some of the public still refused to trust the police. After all, Raito was quite sure that he wouldn't come forward as a witness if there was a chance he would be tossed into a cell as well. If he was still Kira, he would make sure that Constable Jacobs would die and that he would be there to witness it. Self preservation be damned.

Raito gasped slightly as he felt a like he had been kicked in the stomach. His anger quickly turned to panic and he clenched his fists at his sides in vain to help fight the enormous craving that had suddenly began to surge within him. _I will not lose control,_ he thought determinedly.

Unbidden, an image came to mind of him attacking the next person to open the cell like some kind of rabid dog. It disgusted him. He would not allow himself to fall to that level. No matter how bad it got, he refused to fall like that again.

By his reasoning, he should be able to control this now. He had been through the first craving back when L and him were driving to the airport. On the other hand, he and L were no longer in close proximity to each other. Part of him really wondered if that was breaking the rules that the Shinigami King -

A sudden memory flashed behind his eyes.

"_When you return to Earth, you, L will have to have contact with the Death Note at all times starting immediately. You must stop your companion from killing others. If he does kill someone, the mission will be null and you will die on the day that has been assigned to you and he will become a shinigami." _

Raito's insides curled with dread as this sentence ran through his mind. Maybe the bets were already off and he was destined to become a shinigami on the day that L died. He didn't know how the Shinigami King operated as well as he wished to. There was little chance that he would let Raito and L off for something like that. The creature had already made his motives known when he had said that Raito would make a great addition to their race. He shifted, and accidentally brushed his arm against his pants pocket. _The crystal! _He thought in surprise.

Raito had carried it around since the Shinigami King had given it to him. His breath came in gasps, raw with the need for the Death Note and his bangs lay plastered against his forehead as he broke out into a cold sweat. With trembling fingers, he slipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew it. Despite all that had happened, the crystal was still in perfect shape. If it worked the way he hoped it would, there was a chance that the police would be none the wiser to his state of him.

He curled his fingers against the stone and held it to his chest like a lifeline. Nothing. Raito desperately concentrated on the little thing in his hands and his grip tightened to the point where it cut into the flesh of his palm. Blood oozed slowly from the cuts and onto it. The thing suddenly grew so hot that Raito almost dropped it before he allowed his hands to get used to it. He sighed as an echoing feeling of warmth sounded in his chest and the cravings abated to the point that they were bearable.

Body becoming limp in relief, Raito slept.

L took comfort in his favourite sitting position and bare feet as the cell door slammed shut. He had reached the same conclusion as Raito regarding the Death Note and their ties to it. Once again he found himself asking if there was a point to continuing their quest. If they had lost he would die and Raito would become a shinigami. Glancing at the ground, one of his feet rubbed up against the other. He _really_ wanted cake.

"Ryuzaki, Ryuzaki is that you?" a female voice hissed.

L looked up towards the door to his prison. He blinked. "Cassandra O'Lowry?"

"Yes, Ryuzaki." She leaned on the bars. "Tell me. What is the great detective L doing in a jail cell?"

"Constable Jacobs arrested us for being in the wrong place at the wrong time Cassandra-san," L replied.

She raised her eyebrow at the honorific.

"It's a habit," L replied.

"That's right, last I heard you were in Japan solving the Kira case."

"I had to go abroad to follow a new lead in the case," L replied.

"But couldn't you have contacted that Watari fellow?" she asked obviously still wanting to know what happened.

"Cassandra-san, even if I told you what was happening, you wouldn't believe me and I do not have time to explain."

She nodded. "I'll come let you and your friend out after the others have left for the night."

"If you get fired over this, I will be more than happy to find a placement for you elsewhere," L said quietly.

"I'd appreciate that," she said. "My name is going to be mud around here."

Waiting for the rest of the day nearly drove L insane. He was used to being able to do something about his situation. At times like this, he usually would do research on whichever case that he was working on.

Without these things to occupy him, he let his mind wander. He wondered if Raito was having cravings again. It was distinctly possible, though he couldn't hear anything from the other's cell wherever it was in the hall.

"Raito-kun?" he called out cautiously. There was no answer. He was a bit louder now. "Raito-kun?"

L waited a few seconds in hopes that the other would answer. No such luck. He concluded then that the other was most likely asleep. After all, the other had always needed a lot more rest than he had. The detective just knew that it would be downright annoying for him once Raito became his partner in solving crime.

L halted his thoughts and rewound them a second. True, he had given some thought over Raito becoming an aid for him and had up until this point remained undecided. After all, he had proved himself most capable over the research for the Yotsuba group. He and Raito both thought in a similar fashion yet at the same time would both argue against the other to the bitter end if they had differing opinions on a subject. L's subconscious seemed to have made the decision for him. If they got out of this mess, then they would become partners. If Raito agreed to it that is, but L was quite sure that he would.

L felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over him, tempting him with the warmth of sleep. He fought it stubbornly. The lack of sweets of any kind had long ago begun to take their toll on him. L couldn't stop a yawn from escaping his lips and he covered them with the back of his hand to muffle it. His eyelids drooped and he fought against it valiantly, but in the end, the arms of Morpheus were too powerful. As he felt sleep overtake him, his head drooped, but he stayed in that impossible crouching position.

L woke to the sound of keys clicking against the bars of his temporary home.

"About time you woke up," Cassandra said impatiently. "I was thinking of just letting you sleep there and releasing your friend, Raito Yagami all by himself."

L ignored her comment as stood up and slipped his feet into the battered tennis shoes that he had discarded earlier. He would find out what Raito's thoughts were when it came to the subject of their quest.

"Shall we go, Cassandra-san?"

Thirteen days remaining.

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_Thoughts on the chapter? It only takes thirty seconds to review! As always, constructive criticism worshipped!_


	10. Escape and Travel

_Holy c_ra_p. Talk about a hard chapter to write! I know I am about twelve hours late on the update... since I usually update around two in the morning and it is now afternoon. I had a very writers block T.T. Anyway, welcome to chapter ten! You know originally, I expected this story to be only about ten chapters long O.O. And I seem to be only about half way through now... I do jump around a lot in this chapter... sorry about that, but the story should settle next chapter and not be so... staccato... I guess would be the correct term._

**Disclaimer:** The day I own Death Note is the day I stop writing...

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**Escape and Travel**

Raito was awoken by the sound of his cell door opening. He glanced up and saw L standing there with the same female police officer who had questioned him earlier. Cassandra. Cassandra was her name. _Another interrogation?_

"Ready to go, Raito-kun?" L asked.

"You have no idea," Raito said.

Raito looked down at his stiff, closed hand covered in dried streams of blood and uncurled it. The stone fell to the floor, black as pitch.

L blinked at it.

"The Shinigami King gave it to me," Raito said. He grabbed it and stuffed it back into his pocket before standing up. "It stopped my cravings from getting too bad."

"I remember it," L stated. "This is Cassandra-san. I know her through an ally of mine."

Raito dredged up a smile and directed it towards the woman. "Thank you for letting us out," he said.

"Anything to help those who are out to catch the real Kira," Cassandra replied.

Raito suppressed a wince at that, not bothering to correct her. He wondered how she would react if she knew that Kira was right in front of her. Would she even care that he had turned from that path? Somehow, he didn't think so. To someone like her, a crime would be a crime no matter what. She strongly reminded him of his father.

His father. He hadn't thought of the man since he had left with L. Raito wondered for a few moments whether or not he had told Sayu and his mother. _It's unlikely,_ he concluded finally. _My father would never deliberately cause them pain. _

"Raito-kun?"

Raito sighed. "I was just lost in thought, Ryuzaki."

"We need to search the station for the notebook," L said quietly. He glanced at Cassandra.

"Don't worry," she said. She held up her hands in surrender. "I don't need to know what it is, Ryuzaki."

"I wouldn't tell you anyway Cassandra-san," L said. "Where is the evidence locker?"

"I'll show you where it is. No evidence has been shipped yet," Cassandra said.

Cassandra led them out of the cell and down the hall, past the interrogation rooms and back to the same office that Constable Jacobs had first taken them to. Cassandra unlocked not that door, but the one across the hall from it.

It was a well lit room and rather large. There were three rows of tubs in front of them and many filing cabinets off to the side. It was to one of the rows full of evidence from different cases that L immediately approached. Raito watched the detective bite his thumb as his eyes scanned the plastic bins.

L wandered to the next row and pulled down a bin almost immediately. He broke the seal and popped the lid open. After grabbing the Death Note and the strap that he used to bind it to his body out of the bin. He also took the papers that had already been drawn up on their arrest. L next moved over to the filing cabinets and found them to be locked. Cassandra walked over and handed the keys to him wordlessly.

Raito hung around the entranceway in order to stay away from L and the Death Note for as long as possible. Even from four metres away he could feel the book almost singing to him. The urge to lunge for it seemed to push him towards L. He refused to move and instead stuck his hand in his pocket where the black stone lay. Relief once again surged through his system as his fingers clasped the stone.

Finally L found the file he needed and picked it up gingerly.

"Come on Raito-kun. We must go back to the hotel," L said quietly.

"But what about the evidence of the case on the computers?" Raito asked quietly.

"We'll have to leave it," L said quietly. "I trust you have already gone to press about the case, Cassandra-san?"

"Yes," she said grimly. "That is why he was done so quickly with you, Ryuzaki. He wanted to go talk to the reporters."

"Were our pictures released?" Raito asked.

"No, I believe not. They didn't want Kira supporters coming to try and release you two," she said. "They didn't even release where they had caught you, only that it was somewhere in this country."

"I doubt they would even if we escape," Raito said. "Kira's supporters may help us in our escape that way. And there are only two Kiras. Since there are two of us, all that would need to happen would be for Kira to kill again."

"If anything, the killing at the museum indicates a third Kira, Raito-kun," L picked up from where Raito left off. "That pattern is totally against Kira's ideals. He wants to kill criminals and protect those he regards as innocent, not a museum full of men, women and children.

"The fact that we are leaving is still indicative of the fact we know something. If we had nothing to worry about, then we would just sit still until the next time Kira killed. That would prove our innocence. They most likely will expose that we escaped and put out a warrant for our arrest."

"I suppose you are right, Ryuzaki," Raito said. "It would look weaker of the police if they didn't report our escape and another killing occurred. Kira is already looked on as an almost omnipotent being who can kill through supernatural means."

"They will have pictures of us on the police database. I hate leaving my picture anywhere," L muttered.

"I'll take care of that," Cassandra volunteered.

"Thank you, Cassandra-san," L said. "We will take our leave then."

It was a long, silent walk back to the hotel, since the police station they had been brought to was about twelve blocks from the museum and the museum another ten or so back to their current place of residence.

The sun had long since set and there were few people on the street. They were both exhausted and just a bit smelly by the time they arrived back at the hotel. The night receptionist glanced up in surprise and suspicion as they entered the lobby. The Royal Columbian Hotel was a classy place after all, and not for people who looked homeless.

"Excuse me," she said as they passed. "Do you have a room with us?"

"Yes we do," Raito replied. He gave her his best smile. "I'm sorry for our appearance, but we were mugged on the way here."

"Ah," she said. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

Raito ignored her and thought about the long, hot shower he would have alone once they moved up to their room. It felt good to be free of the chain once and for all. He could be more than six feet from L and not have to worry about dragging another body around everywhere.

L unlocked the door and stepped inside, followed by Raito. True to the his thoughts Raito headed right to the bathroom.

L sat on the same chair he used when Raito was sick several days ago and thought about what they would do next. They would have to leave the hotel by very early morning. There would most likely be sketches of them on the twelve o'clock news and it was imperative they find a place that would accept them, no questions asked. _Raito-kun must not interact with his followers, _L thought. _It might prove to be too much of a temptation for him to have all those people willing to follow him. _

L didn't know yet if they had to leave the country or not yet, but it seemed likely. The Horn of Angelus may not even be in the country anymore and he and Raito-kun would be hunted much more closely in England than anywhere else. If they could leave the country undetected, it would be even better. No one would be looking for them in a place as far away as America.

L was pulled out of his thoughts by Raito exiting the washroom. He ordered room service to bring them up some food, before escaping to go shower as well.

Neither of them got much sleep that night.

It was extremely early the next morning that Raito felt himself be prodded awake by L.

"I have found us a new hotel to stay at, Raito-kun," L said. "We should leave immediately."

"How far away is it?" Raito asked.

"Seventy-five miles," L replied. "We are taking a cab to Southampton."

Raito sat up and frowned. "Wouldn't the cab driver go to the police?"

"The one I've called has agreed to pay extra for silence. He knows you are Kira, Raito-kun," L said. "But the two thousand extra dollars that I offered to pay quieted him down."

"Are you sure he will stay quiet?" Raito asked.

"Yes, I am, Raito-kun" L said. "I told him if he didn't, Kira would kill him for breaking his word."

Raito glowered at him before he glanced over to the window. The sun was just rising, turning the skies pink. To some who saw it, it meant the start of a new day with new opportunities. Well, not for Raito. It was way too early in his mind. Nonetheless, he got up out of bed and pulled some clothes on. Neither of them had much packing to do, having lived out of their new suitcases for the last few days.

L signed them out and paid the bill before they rushed down to the waiting cab. The man sitting there smiled at them as they climbed in the back of the car.

"Southampton, right?" he said.

"Yes," L said.

"You have the money right?"

"That is correct," L handed him a check.

"What if this doesn't go through?" the man asked.

"It will," L said calmly.

The threat that Kira might kill him kept the man silent.

Raito fingered the stone in his pocket thoughtfully. It was silent in the car after the driver had tried to talk to them. The kind of silence that one could taste hanging in the air. He had been shot down by either more silence or monosyllabic answers every time he had asked a question. It was clear that the man hated silence.

"Hey! How about we listen to the radio then!" The man turned it on before either of them could answer.

It was tuned to a news station.

"We have some breaking news out of London. The two Kiras have escaped. It is unknown as to how they did so, but we have gotten a recording of what the chief of police has to say about it," the radio newscaster said.

_Strange, _Raito thought. _That they mention that we were caught in London now.  
_

"At this time, we do not know how these two escaped. With Kira's actions the day before with the slaughter of the museum, we have noticed a dangerous shift in Kira's behaviour. The public is advised to be on the lookout for two young men, both five foot ten. One of clear Japanese descent with brown hair and brown eyes and one believed to be of English descent with messy black hair and black eyes. Their photos have been released to the public and will be appearing on tonight's news. These two are extremely dangerous. If anyone comes across them, do not go near them. Phone the police immediately."

"There has been no word from L at this time."

"Well, what do you think about it? Drop us a line at ..."

At that point, Raito stopped listening and clenched the stone harder, feeling it cut into his hand. He glanced out the window and stared at the countryside in hopes of alleviating his restlessness. There was no way that they could do anything at the moment.

It took them three hours to get through traffic and arrive at their destination. The cab driver dropped them off just outside of Southampton and took off. Raito winced as he heard the screech and crash as the car tipped over a ravine and out of sight less than a minute later. He had no doubt that if they were to go down there, all they would find was the smoldering remains of the cab and the dead cabdriver inside of it.

"Why didn't Cassandra-san die, if he did, Raito-kun?" L said suddenly. He bit his thumb as if bothered or perplexed.

Raito frowned as well. He had fully expected the police officer to die when she had released them. Then again, if that had happened, then they would have heard about it over the radio. It would have made a much more dramatic story than them escaping the quiet way they did. An idea occurred to him.

"Ryuzaki, did you ask her to let you out of your cell?"

L bit his lip. "No I didn't, Raito-kun." His mind raced through all of things that Cassandra had done for them. "I didn't ask her to do anything. She volunteered."

"You asked the cab driver to take us here, right?"

"Correct, Raito-kun."

"There's a loophole in one of the Shinigami King's rules," Raito said. "He told us we cannot ask anyone for help. It didn't mean that someone couldn't offer to help us in a specific way."

"Does this loophole not close now then, Raito-kun?" L said as they began to head towards Southampton. "If we were to hint at someone to help us, then the Shinigami King may kill them."

"Not necessarily. We just wouldn't have to hint at it," Raito said. "We would just have to hope they help us."

"That is not much of a loophole at all, Raito-kun," L replied. "But it does raise some hope."

They fell silent as they began to wander through the streets of Southampton. It was really a beautiful place. Raito was sure that if he had the time, he would have enjoyed studying its history and playing tourist. There was a crazy mix of old castles, modern houses, and an industrial area. The hotel they were staying at was also exceptionally beautiful and, according to L, had an underground reputation for playing sanctuary to outlaws and criminals – as long as they behaved.

The John Lewis Hotel looked very modern, compared to some of the history that surrounded it. Despite that, the town was still a very small place. It seemed like most people gathered and lived in more crowded places, such as London.

L signed them in under a different pseudonym this time. It was his most common one. Ryuzaki with no last name attached to it. True to what was known about the hotel, the receptionist just smiled and nodded. She didn't bother to ask for a last name or might have even made one up for him.

They got their hotel key and took the elevator to the uppermost floors, where they just dropped their suitcases by the entrance and walked into the suite. It was tastefully decorated and much larger than the one at the Royal Columbian Hotel. There was a large plasma television mounted on the wall and two king sized beds across from it. Underneath the window a state of the art computer stood on a small desk. Even from where Raito was standing, he could tell that it had not even been released to the public yet. It was too small, and the screen was much clearer than any he had ever seen.

L dropped everything and stepped over to the computer. He booted it up, and set to work making sure that the hotel couldn't monitor what he was doing. Even though this place was a haven for both criminals and tourists, there was still a very high chance that his time on the Internet would be monitored and the information of who he was and where he went would be sold.

Raito hung over his shoulder and watched as L finished his first task and began to look up news reports about the museum. He itched to have a computer of his own to work off of, but the hotel still only supplied one per a suite, no matter how large or small it was.

L frowned as he looked through the articles. There was nothing about the theft at the museum. It was almost like the Horn of Angelus had never been there in the first place. It was both good and bad in a way. Good, because if they did find it still in England, then the police weren't looking for it. Bad, because he had no idea where the artifact was.

Twelve days remaining.

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_So how was it? Good? Bad? Err Grey? Please review and tell me what you think  
_


	11. Song of the Wanderers

_Okay, first of all, the title has nothing to do with the chapter. It was the name of a book I read once when I was little. I was feeling nostalgic _

**READ THIS:** Okay, I thought long and hard about this before I went along and did it, but I changed something from last chapter. L's and Raito's pictures were not erased from the system, and the police and the public are out looking for them. So yeah...

_I really enjoyed writing this chapter XD. I hope you all enjoy the fruits of my labour. _

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note, but I do own the plot. Steal and Lord Kira shall pass judgement upon your souls or something... I also do not own the title of this chapter.

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Song of the Wanderers

"We'll have to leave this hotel within a few days," Raito said. "I don't think Kira is very popular around here."

There had been a lot of hostile stares directed at him from the hotel lobby earlier in the evening when he had gone for a cup of coffee. No one had touched him, but it was easy to see that if he was just walking down the street, he would have been attacked by them. After all, the pictures of him and L had been released to the media just hours ago. It was easy to see that almost everyone who he had passed had recognized him.

It was to be expected as Kira was their ultimate enemy. It must have been painful to just watch someone that they hated and would absolutely _love_ to kill themselves walk calmly by them and not be able to do anything about it. Raito knew the feeling. He expected that if he was in one of their places, he would feel the same. A small part of him was tempted to kill them all. As he sat there beside L, he clenched the stone in his pocket convulsively.

"I would not expect them to be, Raito-kun," L replied. "I expect that they will try to attack us when we try to leave."

"They don't even know for sure that I _am_ Kira," Raito said.

"They don't need to, Raito-kun. They just want to take their anger out on someone. Kira has most likely killed someone who is dear to them or potential allies."

"That's what I expected you to say, Ryuzaki. In any case, we are going to need to leave the country."

"And how do you propose to do that, Raito-kun?" L said, taking his attention away from the screen. "The airports have security guards and the local law enforcement is probably out looking for us."

"By ship," Raito said. "The United States would be our best bet."

"We would lose five days if we did that," L said. "That is most unwise."

"We can't stay here. The other residents of the hotel are going to attack us."

"Not until we leave."

"Then we should leave tomorrow night. I think that they are expecting us to leave tonight."

"Raito-kun, we don't even know where the Horn of Angelus is. If it turns out that it was in here, then we will have to travel back. By your method, it would mean that we would have lost ten days."

"It would be safer there. They wouldn't expect us to be there."

"Kira is widely acknowledged as a criminal mastermind," L said. "It is expected that we would try to leave the country."

"I agree with you there," Raito said. "But we just need to leave undetected. It will be impossible to find the Horn of Angelus if we are being hunted down by the police or attacked by thugs."

"I disagree, Raito-kun. I believe we should stay here until we need to move," L said. "We have the best technology that can be hoped for at this moment in time and free from government monitoring."

"I still believe that we should leave."

"Although I do agree with your method of transportation, provided that the Horn of Angelus is indeed in another country and if we have the time to do so, we will take the boat," L said. "If things do turn out otherwise ..."

"I'll become a shinigami and you will die."

"I was going to say that we would risk the airplane and see if we can finish our task, but you are correct in that matter as well."

L turned his attention back to the computer monitor. Raito peered over his shoulder and looked at the page L was on. For the past few hours, they had painstakingly hacked into the national banking chain in hopes of finding something. Their reasoning was with how little time they had left, and the fact that the Horn of Angelus would have most likely been recognized as an art piece, it was the most likely option. L had easily brought up every transaction over ten thousand dollars and the numbers of the accounts involved. From there, it was be easy to find the identities of the people involved.

The only issue was that those transactions numbered in the tens of thousands. Raito fought the urge to groan. This task took the 'needle in a haystack' comparison to a whole new level. There was a high chance that the Horn of Angelus had been traded outside of the banking system, or the money had been transferred between two accounts in totally different countries with the theft only happening in Britain. Even worse, it could still be in the hands of the thief, making it almost impossible to find it. Raito voiced his concerns to L.

"Raito-kun, it is most likely not in the hands of the one who took it. The crime was done by a professional," L said. "There is a seventy-three percent chance that it was sold before it was stolen or the person who wanted it paid someone off to get it. Either way, with this type of crime, the going price should be more than ten thousand dollars."

"There is also the chance that the Horn of Angelus was traded outside of any official system," Raito said.

"If there is one thing that you have taught me, Raito-kun, it is that sitting around and feeling depressed does not solve the issue," L said. "Help me or keep silent."

Raito fell silent and recommenced staring over L's shoulder.

It was very late at night before L found a lead. Raito had fallen asleep less than an hour ago on L's insistence. He was well aware that Raito needed a lot of sleep compared to him. He also knew that the other was not contributing anything useful towards their investigation currently; even if he had begun to pay attention to what L was looking up.

L bit his thumb and his eyes widened slightly at the amount he was currently puzzling over. There was a sum of one hundred thousand dollars transferred from a location in America to an account in London. L frowned at the label given to it. 'A purchase' was all it said. He looked at the originating account number and found a name. Ernhardt Cunningham. L frowned. He had heard that name before. Quickly he brought up a Google search engine, confident he had no need to hack for information on this man. A page came up on him from wikipedia, as well as several websites and blogs. He selected the wikipedia page and scanned it swiftly. It said that he was a famous art collector.

L remembered him now, from a blackmail list he had. He had had dealings in the past with the rich, eccentric man. He was quite like L himself with his cases. If he saw a historical artifact or an art piece that he wanted, he would stop at nothing to get it. Many of the things he had many did not even know were gone. He was the reason behind many of the thefts from museums in the last twenty years. Ernhardt also had a hobby of making the fakes himself. He had the ability to create an almost identical copy of the artifact that he wanted.

L knew immediately that he most likely had his culprit. He allowed a smile of triumph to play over his face. The coincidence was too large. There were two transactions with his account number attached to it. One was an amount of ten thousand dollars two days before the theft. The other was earlier today and was the amount of one hundred thousand dollars to the same account. He bought the man's personal information on one of the many websites that had been cropping up as of late and looked through that. Within seconds, he had the man's address, phone number, date of birth, a summary of his life's history and the names of all of his close kin.

Quickly, he memorized the information needed. It seemed that the man was in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Next, he looked up a shipping boat that was leaving for America from the local port. There was one full of what seemed to be bicycles leaving at about four that very morning. It was on a state of the art transport ship as well, and due at the Virginia port five days after it set sail. L then took the time to erase all information on the computer and set in some false history of where he visited on the Internet.

After shutting down the machine, he turned to Raito, who was sprawled out in an undignified manner fast asleep.

"Raito-kun," L said.

Raito didn't even move.

"Raito-kun!"

The other's eyes opened.

"Ryuzaki?"

"I found out where the Horn is," L said.

"Are you sure?"

"Raito-kun must be tired. I would not have woken him up otherwise," L stated.

Raito glowered at him. "When do we leave?"

"Ten minutes from now," L replied.

Raito sat up, finally taking stock of the situation. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I only just figured out who has it and where we must go to get on board the ship, Raito-kun," L said. "I'll call a cab while you get ready."

Raito headed for the bathroom to tame his mussed up hair and wash his face. He glanced into the mirror over the sink and winced. It was obvious that over the last few days he had become unrecognizable to anyone who knew him. _Hah!_ Raito held back a derisive snort. _I don't even recognize myself anymore._

It seemed that his change of heart was starting to truly take a toll on him. He still did not feel much guilt for what he had done, but at the same time all human beings were flawed. To kill them because of their flaws was unacceptable in his eyes. Therefore he was unacceptable to himself.

_But if their flaws endanger others..._

The voice had a point. But that was what the justice system had been created for.

_How about those that escape the arms of justice over and over?_

"Argh!" Raito groaned, bowing his head. He resisted the urge to bang his fists against the counter or to punch the mirror and scream. Just hours ago, he was sure that he was doing the right thing, but sometime in his sleep, an insidious doubt seemed to have sprouted in his mind. He glanced again into the mirror and noticed not for the first time, the dark circles under his eyes and his pale skin. It made him look like a weird hybrid of himself and L. That was it. He knew for a fact that his uncertainty was the voice of stress and exhaustion. He would have to ignore it for now and continue to work towards his goal.

"Hurry up, Raito-kun!" L called impatiently.

Raito quickly splashed his face with water and left the bathroom. He grabbed his suitcase and followed L out of the room. They proceeded down to the hotel lobby, where a new male receptionist had taken over for the night.

"We'd like to check out," Ryuzaki said. "Our suite is under the name 'Ryuzaki'"

"Ah yes," the man said. "Just let me find it..."

Raito glanced around the room, hoping against hope that there was no one else there. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky. There was a man leaning against the elevator. The man glanced up, as if he sensed the other's gaze. He stared back for a minute and then gave a menacing grin. The smile seemed to promise something. It seemed to say" 'You are going to wish you had never been born'. The man turned away from him and pressed the button for the elevator. The elevator pinged, and the man got on. Raito swallowed and glanced at L who was just paying their bill. His eyes darted towards the elevators again, and then to the doors leading outside. Raito's eyes then found him back to L. His right hand slid into his pocket again and curled into a fist. Deep in his chest, he felt his heart beating itself against his rib cage. He really wanted L to hurry up and finish his business so that they could leave.

He was sure that L wasn't oblivious to what was happening. L was equal with him when it came to observational skills.

"Come, Raito-kun," L said. "The taxi will arrive in ten minutes. We should wait outside for it."

Raito followed him outside. The detective stood right underneath the street lamp. He saw the detective bite his thumb compulsively. He looked back towards the building that they just exited out of. As he watched, the doors opened and about six men exited, and moved towards them with purpose. As one, L and Raito turned towards them. Raito saw L take up a stance that he was rather familiar with and knew that he intended to use his feet. Raito bent his knees slightly and raised his fists.

The group of six was led by a the same man that Raito had seen standing by the elevator moments ago. He smirked and cracked his knuckles, before rushing straight towards Raito. Raito waited until the last moment to duck out of the way and delivered a kick to the back of the man's knees, sending him sprawling. As the remaining men surrounded them, L moved so that he was back to back with Raito.

The other man got up wiped his hands on his jeans before stepping towards them.

"You're gonna pay for that, Kira," he snarled. "Both of you!"

As one, the men rushed towards them. Raito found himself dodging a punch and then delivering one to the man who had thrown it. It was then that he heard a loud crack, the sound of L's foot landing on its target. Most likely someone's jaw. Raito didn't bother turning to find out. He ducked under another punch and went for the ribcage of his attacker, knocking the breath out of the man. Raito gasped, the air also leaving his lungs, as a foot found itself buried in his side. He dodged another attack the best he could, desperately sucking in air.

Under the force of another attack, L bumped into him hard, and they both fell to the ground. L fended off the first kick aimed at his side and attacked from the ground. He planted his foot squarely in the man's chest. The man flew backwards and his head hit the pole. He slumped down, unconscious and out of the action. Raito lunged up just in time to stop another from attacking L as he recovered from his attack and received a crack on the head from behind. He fell onto the sidewalk, stunned. Without Raito to protect his back, L was soon knocked to the ground as well. Then the kicks began. Raito tried to block the first few, then just focused on protecting his head.

The screech of tires echoed through the early morning air. The car stopped right in front of them. Dimly, Raito could hear the car door opening.

"Now, what's all this then?" a friendly voice called out.

The thugs stopped as one and they all glanced towards the origin of the voice. There, illuminated in the darkness was a man with an equally friendly smile on his face. He was leaning against the cab in a casual gesture. What was not so casual was the gun he held in his hand.

Raito shifted his eyes to L and then back to the man with the gun. _Well this is an interesting development. _Raito thought._ Is the man our saviour or our executioner?_

Eleven days remaining.

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_I have nothing to say for the end of this chapter except please review! _


	12. Of Ships and Guns

_So yes... this is a day late. But I have an excuse as always. I had to do an all nighter at my work last night and then slept until late this afternoon. It was a scheduling error since I usually get my all nighters on Saturdays and not Fridays, but well I still had to work it. To any of you who don't already know, Pestilence is on hiatus until further notice. I felt it and this one were beginning to sound to similar so I have stopped writing it for the moment._

_And yay me, this is the longest story on my profile now XD. I feel all tingly inside. _

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note.

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Of Ships and Guns

There was silence between L, Raito, the thugs and the mysterious man. Raito looked closer. No, it wasn't a man. _A... teenager?_ Granted, it didn't really matter what the age of the person was. Just their willingness to use the firearm.

Once more, Raito found himself wishing for the Death Note. This situation could have been avoided if he had just written the names of these men down. No, if he had written L's name down! He immediately discarded the last thought. What mattered was that he hadn't written L's name down, Misa had when he had wanted L alive. Even if she had done it under his orders.

"What? You going to stop us or something?" the leader of the thugs stepped forward.

The lower half of the stranger's face was not obscured by shadow and this gave them all a view of his cocky smirk. "I don't think any of you are armed at this point. So I will most likely be the one stopping this."

The man snorted. "You? A boy? You're too young. You're too scared to pull the trigger."

"Don't bet on it," came the dark reply. The smirk had disappeared.

The man hesitated as the youth stared him down. The only thing that Raito could hear was the whisper of the early morning wind. From where he was on the ground, Raito could see the boy's finger tighten on the trigger.

"It doesn't matter. Kira will be caught again soon. Let's just let 'em run until the cops catch them. It would be worse for them in the end." The man turned and walked back inside the hotel. The other thugs followed.

L stared at the person holding the gun. The upper half of the other's face was still shadowed, and the British accent had seemed forced. Then he heard the familiar _crack_ of chocolate breaking.

"Mello?" he said.

In reply, the figure took a step forward, revealing himself to be a blonde boy of about fifteen. He turned on the safety and quickly jammed the gun down the front of his leather pants. He brought the chocolate bar to his lips and began licking it.

"Ryuzaki," he said.

L hadn't seen either of his successors since before the Kira case had begun. The same problem still hung in the air now as it did then. L didn't know which one of them was best suited for the job of inheriting his name.

Mello was too confrontational, too controlled by his emotions. He sometimes took action before he thought it through. One thing was for sure, the boy who was currently second in line – in grades at least - for the throne of L was fierce and independent. Near was the exact opposite. He was passive, and a little too analytical. He thought things out for far too long and was one that would more like than not avoid taking action. The support of others was also essential for him to utilize all of his genius while L was normally an independent entity.

He had, in the past, entertained the idea of using them both as a team. L had originally thought it to be the perfect solution to picking which one was better when they both had their strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, instead of working as a cohesive unit, their personality clash had been too great. L had blamed Mello's refusal to cooperate with Near on the original assumption that there would be only one successor.

"I didn't know you had left," L said.

"Watari forwarded a message to Roger informing him of what was going on. I know that you can't be helped, but that is not what I am here to do.

"How did you find us?"

"It wasn't hard with the news flash that Kira had been captured somewhere in London. I had Matt hack into the police files for me before I left. I arrived at the station the same time you escaped and tailed you here.

Raito shifted slightly beside L.

"Before I forget, this is Raito Yagami,"L said. "Raito-kun, this is Mello, one of my potential heirs."

Raito raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You must be Kira," Mello said and bit another chunk off of his chocolate bar.

"I'd prefer not to be called that," Raito said.

"Why?" Mello said. "Do you feel ashamed of your actions _Kira_?"

"My former ideals were.. naïve," Raito said slowly. "Everyone has done something in their life, harmed someone... something that would probably have killed them for."

Mello snorted and took another bite of his chocolate. "You are too black and white. You can't just see both the good and bad, can you?"

"Everyone is evil," Raito muttered.

Mello burst out laughing at this. "Everyone is selfish and does what is needed to improve their lives or what will make them happy. That is inevitable. The idea that everyone is evil is just foolish."

"How so?" Raito said. He didn't like having his ideals questioned.

"It's plain to see that you are pushing your faults on other people."

"That's ridiculous," Raito said.

"How so? You believed you were doing the right thing, and then realized that it was wrong," Mello said. It was quite clear that he was enjoying the conversation. "Now you are pushing this revelation on others."

"I am not pushing my own faults on other people," Raito replied heatedly. "You can't tell me that you haven't done something or will do something that I as Kira would consider evil." His former public pseudonym felt dirty on his tongue.

"I can't," Mello agreed. "But that does not mean I am evil, does it? Tell me, do you consider yourself evil?"

"Of course," Raito replied. "I've killed a lot of people. And yes you are evil in my mind for doing what is against my morals."

"You are still naïve," Mello said. "And arrogant."

"You said there was something you needed to tell me, Mello?" L said as Raito began to fume. As enjoyable as the argument had been to watch so far, he didn't want it to turn violent. It would throw them off schedule.

"I wanted to tell you this in person, L," Mello said. "I am leaving the title of L to Near. I still want to be better than Near, but winning your title is not the only way to do that."

"It is nothing illegal, I hope," L aid.

"You wouldn't arrest me."

"I arrested B," L pointed out.

"I'm not planning on killing anyone just to gain your attention," Mello said. "If it is something illegal, I'll just make sure that you have no reason to turn me in."

"I am glad," L said. "I do not wish to turn in you to the authorities as well."

"I will tell you that I am headed for America," Mello said. "You can have the cab. It's stolen anyway."

"Thank you, Mello," L said.

"Tch," the blonde boy snorted. "Don't mention it."

He turned and walked off.

"B?"

"He's dead, Raito-kun," L said. "He was one of Kira's first victims."

"I see," Raito replied.

Getting into the car proved to be an awkward affair. the passenger's side was blocked off by a large mailbox. Raito climbed in first, making sure to avoid catching his clothes on any of the controls. He was rewarded for his efforts when he slipped and fell forward.

"Raito-kun looks quite undignified in that position." L couldn't resist the jab. "He could have just asked me to move the car."

"Quiet, Ryuzaki," Raito muttered. He righted himself.

L sat beside him and settled behind the wheel. There were no keys in the ignition. L leaned down and grasped two slightly worn wires and wrapped them back around each other. The car puttered to life and L took off towards the port.

Against his will, Raito found himself nodding off. The adrenalin from the fight had long since worn off, leaving a bone deep weariness. L was watching him out of the corner of his eye.

"Sleep, Raito-kun. We shall be there shortly," L said.

Raito sat up in an effort to make sure his body wouldn't attempt to fall asleep again. Alas without coffee, it was a losing battle and he soon was dead to the world.

Raito woke up approximately twenty minutes later when the car came to a stop. He glanced around as he became more awake. They were parked in the lot of one of those twenty-four hour convenience stores.

"Supplies, Raito-kun," L said simply. They climbed out and made their way towards the entrance of the store. Together they bought toiletries, a set of wire cutters, enough sweets to last L five days, and some canned goods for Raito. The man at the counter raised his eyebrows as they paid for their merchandise. If he recognized them, he didn't say anything.

Raito and L then made their way back to the waiting car. This time, Raito made sure to stay awake and organized their possessions in such a way that almost everything fit into their two small bags. It took the better part of an hour to reach their destination.

L parked the car on the hill that stood above the port. Raito made sure to take the convenience store bags with him. There was nothing they could do to erase the physical evidence in the car such as fingerprints. Time was running out. They made sure to keep to the shadows as they started their walk down towards the shipping yard.

It turned out to be easier to get into the shipping yard than they had initially expected. There was no advanced security system to stop people from breaking in or stealing anything. There wasn't even a guard dog. However, there were the people loading a couple of ships. Even at this time in the morning, the yard was swarming with workers. The entire yard was huge. It was two or three kilometres long and had a barbed wire fence encircling it.

There were a couple of cranes in operation, their engines groaning loudly as they hoisted the gigantic containers onto ships. The area was lit with lamps and lights from the cranes themselves.

They walked along the perimeter, looking for a place where the fence could be cut in such a way that it would remain almost unnoticeable. They finally came to a corner that would be suitable for their endeavor. The nearest shipping container was about one metre away from the fence. It not only gave them ample space to get in once the fence was cut, but it also was angled in a way that provided good cover for them.

Raito wordlessly pulled the cutters out of his bag and handed them to L. L crouched down to the ground and made three one metre long cuts. He then pushed hard and heard the wires screech slightly as the part of the fence swung in stiffly like a door on hinges in need of oiling. Both of them glanced around to make sure that there was no one near enough to them that would be able to see them or partition of metal fencing that was now sticking out. The coast was clear.

Raito climbed in through the hole first. He winced as his clothing snagged and then tore on the sharp pieces of metal. As soon as he was in, he crouched down beside the container and motioned towards L. Just as L began to slip in, they heard voices coming nearby.

Immediately L froze, hanging onto the chain linking in order to maintain his balance. Raito stayed as still as possible.

"I still don't know why we are the ones who have to figure out where the company put their bloody bins!" came an annoyed voice. "This would be so much easier if someone organized it!"

"Be quiet!" another voice answered the first one. "Do you want to get fired. You must remember what happens to people who complain or want to change things around here!"

Raito felt relief wash over him as the two workers passed them and L was able to finish getting in. He pushed the fence back into place and they began to head towards the docks, making sure to stay out of sight as much as possible. Their destination was about half of a kilometre away. Around them in rows were the shipping containers. They were stacked about three levels high and with enough space in between them to get one of the cranes in operation at the end of the pier in between them.

The noise of the cranes grew deafening as L and Raito reached them. They ignored the sign that marked 'Authorized Entry Only' and hung back in between two stacks of containers. There were only two ships being loaded. One was Atlantic Shipping, the one that they were due to get on, and the other had the symbol of wheat on it and said Trail of Breadcrumbs Shipping. It was the Atlantic one that they wanted, so Raito and L made their way over to the former of the two.

They slowed down automatically knowing that this would be the hardest trial. Staying hidden on the ship would be easy. It was getting on the ship without being detected that was hard. Raito and L again stayed back, before daring to creep onto the dock, which was full of crates waiting to be loaded. These provided ample cover for them.

Raito almost wished that they could just knock out a couple of the workers and steal their uniforms. It would be a lot easier to get on board then. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to leave any evidence of their passing and that included unconscious bodies. The ships might be searched otherwise. It wouldn't do to be discovered and then dragged back to the authorities as Kira.

Of its own volition, Raito's hand crept into his pocket and clenched the stone. Immediately, he felt all of his tension disappear and he relaxed before glancing around warily up. He glanced at his pocket. _I'm beginning to rely on this too much,_ he thought. They didn't bother to be quiet with their footsteps and movements. In situations like these it was always best to walk casually and with purpose anyway. If anyone saw them from a distance, they would have less chance of drawing attention to themselves if they did so.

Along with the supplies being loaded on by the crane, there was also a gangplank leading up to the ship. There was almost a constant flow of traffic on the little piece of wood.

Raito and L looked at each other. They both knew that they needed a distraction. But what would draw the attention of those around them away from the ship, even for a moment?

The plan that L came up with was dreadfully simple, but dangerous for all involved. Motioning for Raito to stay where he was, he handed him his bag, and crept forward to where the crane was about to pick up the next crate. He clambered on top of a stack that was to go on in a few minutes. The stack was one of the shorter ones, with only two crates instead of three. This particular stack was a couple of rows behind the stack that the crane was currently working on. Quickly, L clambered up rungs on the crate that served as a ladder.

L looked at how the cables were laid out and saw that there was only one. The cable or rope in question had been stuck through thick shackles that were situated on each corner of the crate. It made it so that L would only need to make one weakened point on the cable. He grabbed at the nearest part to him and set to work with the wire cutters. After cutting through about halfway, he glanced around to make sure there was no one near enough to his position to detect his planned descent.

L climbed down as swiftly as he could and ran back to Raito's position. There they settled back and waited.

It took a grand total of ten minutes before the crane got to the box that L had tampered with. L watched with bated breath as he watched the crane pick it up. There was a sixty-five percent chance that people would get hurt and he didn't want that to happen. It would mean that the ship he had chosen would be going nowhere and they would have to find another one that had a similar destination.

It turned out he didn't have to worry. The pier that they were standing on was one of the narrower ones, with only enough room for the crane and the boxes to be loaded. The rope didn't snap until the crate was over water. The box, rope and all, slid out of the grips of the machine and fell into the sea at an angle and sank. Immediately every man in the area rushed towards the scene leaving L and Raito able to slip aboard unnoticed.

Raito took one glance up at the sky before they opened the door that would lead them below the deck. The sky to the East was just beginning to pale. He didn't even bother to stop for a closer look, but followed L inside.

* * *

_So yes, Mello is the one who saved them. I didn't really feel like creating an original character and I must admit that I imagined that it was him when I was writing the last chapter. _

_I took some creative liberties with the port as I have never been to one... Anyone who has suggestions on how to make it more realistic is welcomed to leave it in a review. So! Tell me what you think!  
_

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	13. Nought but two Stowaways

_Yes so this is chapter thirteen... I think that there are only four or five chapters left in this story and I still like writing this so that's good. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, full of errors though it may be. I only spell checked it because I have to get up for work ridiculously early this morning. Enjoy!_

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Nought but two Stowaways.

In the commotion that ensued, no one noticed Raito and L. It was a tremendous stroke of luck that no one was below deck. It was like the gods had finally decided to cease their cruel torture and allow them a reprieve. Or not. The place that would be best for them to hide was at the bottom of the boat where the crates would be stored. Unfortunately, all of the crates were not on board yet. This meant that they would have to find somewhere else to hide. Being squished or discovered was not in their plans.

There was a gigantic sort of trapdoor on the deck that lead to the level where the craters were to be placed. Even now they could hear the crates being lowered in.

"Raito-kun," L said. "I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?"

"We should to go the bunk room."

"To get uniforms?" Raito asked. "I doubt anyone will be in there ar the beginning of the voyage. We can hide in there as well."

"Correct, Raito-kun."

They randomly chose one of hte two staircases. The level that they descended to was hot and stuffy. The long, narrow hallway was brightly lit. The surfaces of the metal walls gleamed. There was only one door at the end with a black and yellow striped sign that read 'Engine Room.' Well, that wasn't the right one.

Raito and L turned to be met with an almost identical hallway, curving around the staircase that they had just come down. They ended up crossing over to the other side of the ship. The bunkers were there. There were to rooms directly across from each other. Raito an L immediately entered the one labeled 'men'

The room was a nondescript grey, much like everything else on the ship was. the beds were the type that sometimes were seen in summer camp movies with one bunk on top and another on the bottom.

There were large lockers underneath the porthole to the outside. Unfortunately, there were no uniforms just lying around. Nor were any of the lockers open. They were shut tight with heavy duty combination locks. With great trepidation, L and Raito sat on one of the beds, and waited.

As expected, the stunt that L had pulled delayed the departure of the ship by a couple of hours. Raito was pretty sure that it wouldn't cross their minds that the rope had been deliberately cut as a distraction. After all, it had fallen into the ocean...

The time between their stowing away and inevitable departure passed by with agonizing slowness. As if to mock them, there was a clock on the wall above one of the rows of lockers. It was not even a digital one, but, rather, one of the older models with second, minute and hour hands. Its tick was audible, it seemed, even above the shouts of the men outside and the occasional 'clang' when the crane operator misjudged, resulting in a crate bumping against the hull.

A violent tremour went through the entire ship. L's arms flailed as he tried desperately to regain his balance. He failed. L crashed to the floor and lay there for a minute, the wind knocked out of him.

Raito sniggered.

"That wasn't very funny, Raito-kun," L said.

"Oh yes it was."

One of his customary pouts crossed his face as he looked away from Raito and towards the door. A pair of shoes were outlined in the little space that was between the base of the door and the floor. L shot up and grabbed Raito by the collar of his shirt before dragging him off the bed onto the floor and then underneath. The whole movement caused a wave of dizziness to rush through him and he just lay underneath the bed beside Raito with his finger to his lips. Obediently, Raito fell silent just as the door opened.

The hiding place was poor at best despite the angle of which the two rows of beds lined up across from each other and against each wall. The two remaining walls had lockers pushed against them. Both L and Raito tensed as the man walked in.

"I could have sworn I heard something ..." The man's voice trailed off as he wandered over to the nearest set of lockers and dialed the combination in one of them. "Maybe someone dropped something in the cafeteria?"

They heard the locker slam shut and the man retreated out of the room. As soon as the door swung closed, Raito and L crept out from under the bed. Above them there was the hum and grinding sound of the door on deck being slid shut. It made the walls vibrate.

"Shall we go, Raito-kun?" L asked.

"This would be the best time."

Bags in hand, they crept out of the room and made a break for the stairs.

"The crates should be at the very lowest level," L said.

"I know that," Raito said. "Don't patronize me, L."

There was no one on the stairs when they reached them. At least, no one that could see them. They could here voices on deck and the cabin door opening. Raito and L tensed; In silent agreement, they both raced to the bottom of the boat. As expected, the crates were all locked in place in order to endure any rough weather they might encounter. There was a little space around each crate of about a foot in diameter. Where the crates met the walls, there was about three feet of space. L headed for the corner farthest away from the stairwell they had just come down with Raito right on his heels.

Together, they settled down with their bags beside them. They didn't dare unpack.

"Now what?" Raito asked. He leaned against the cool metal of the wall with a sigh.

"We wait, Raito-kun."

"We're not going to do anything for five days?" Raito said.

"I am sure we will have some enlightening conversations, Raito-kun."

The sound of an engine's whine met their ears as the ship began to vibrate. The sound grew louder and the entire ship jerked. They were on their way.

As promised, their first day was indeed full of discussion that only two genii could follow. The second day was full of discussion once more, but it was clear that both of them were starting to tire of it. Raito and L both hit a new low on the third day.

"I spy with my little eye something that is red," Raito said.

"Is it that crate?" L said.

"Yes."

"It's my turn, Raito-kun. I spy with my little eye something that is yellow," L said.

"Is it that crate, L?" Raito asked. He pointed towards a random yellow crate.

"No."

"How about that one?" Raito said. He pointed to the yellow crate next to it.

"I can assure you, that it is not a crate, Raito-kun," L said.

"It's the line on the ground then," Raito said.

Sweat dripped from his hair and down his face. He wiped it away and then looked back at the detective. L was busy playing with a two day old donut.

"Correct, Raito-kun," L said.

"Ryuzaki, I'm really need a shower. I'm going to take one," Raito said.

"That wouldn't be wise, Raito-kun," L said.

"Ryuzaki, it's three a.m.. I think I can go have a shower without worrying if I am going to be seen."

Raito usually did not make it his business to be awake at this hour, but his sense of time had been severely messed up due to how far they had traveled and the fact that he couldn't see the time

"Raito-kun should keep his showers down to a minimum. He risks being discovered."

Raito's eyes narrowed. "Even in the situation that we are currently in, I will not give up my moral hygiene!"

"I see," L said. "It's quite unfortunate that Raito-kun thinks so. I refuse to allow you to do so."

"And how are you supposed to do that?" Raito demanded.

I will, of course, physically restrain, Raito-kun if he insists on being difficult."

Raito glared, debating if it was worth the effort to do so. He was bored and he had been at sea for three days now. He settled down slightly and pretended to stare ahead as if he had given in and was not happy about doing so. It wasn't that hard, really. He wasn't happy in general right now. And it was so hot and stuffy in this room. That and the boat was rocking back and forth, which greatly increased Raito's ire. His stomach started to hurt a little and a craving started to well up inside of him. He grabbed the stone out of his pocket and squeezed it tightly until it subsided.

L seemed to decide that Raito wasn't about to try something and went back to eating his donut. Raito glanced towards where he knew the stairs lay and back to L while trying not to be obvious about it. He knew he only had to get to them before L caught him. L wouldn't follow him up the steps. His self-preservation instinct was too strong to risk himself like that unless it was absolutely necessary.

Raito bolted. Or, at least, he tried to. He only got about two steps before L slid in front of him.

"Nice try, Raito-kun," he said.

Raito immediately wheeled around and tried to run the other way. L grabbed his collar before he could get anywhere.

"I told you that I would physically restrain you if you tried to go, Raito-kun."

Smug bastard, Raito thought angrily. He wheeled around and planted his fist in the other's face. There was a slight gasp of surprise from the other before L's foot hit his chin with a loud crack. Raito crumpled to the floor, but staggered to his feet immediately. Wincing in pain, he rubbed his jaw and glared at L. Blood trickled down from L's nose and he made no move to wipe it away.

"Why are you doing this, Raito-kun?" L asked. "You know my motto. Once is once."

Raito stalked towards him. "I have been on this boat for three days. I have had only you to interact with. I am bored out of my mind and we have been playing I-spy for the last three hours! Don't you think I deserve a shower?"

He was nearly shouting by the end. Their voices and the sounds of their fight echoed the room.

"But Raito-kun just had one twelve hours ago," L said.

"You haven't had one at all and I wanted to take one to relieve the sense of monotony that has been building up," Raito said. "Besides, it's hot and stuffy in here. I need another one."

"No," L said. "I will not waver because you are obsessive."

Raito lunged forward once more. L leaned out of the way so Raito's fist only grazed his chin. It was still enough to snap his head around. Once more L spun around. His hands met the floor and his kick landed in Raito's chest.

Raito picked himself up off the ground and went after L again. He swung his fist with all of his strength and L fell backwards, hitting his head against the wall with a sickening crack. He slumped down, unconscious. Cursing, Raito started forward again. He had never meant to actually hurt the detective that badly; he had just wanted to avoid him so that he could go take a shower.

As he neared L, he froze. His entire frame quivered and shook as a strange sensation sang through him. He knew instinctively that it was coming from the Death Note and it drew him towards it. The stone was useless in this type of proximity. Almost of its own accord, his hand reached forward and lifted the detective's shirt up. He savoured the feeling of anticipation as his hands hovered just above the Death Note.

Footsteps echoed faintly, growing louder as they approached the spot where Raito and L were. It was only then that he realised exactly how loud they had been. Raito glanced around quickly. Raito knew it was not safe to move an unconscious person, but in this instance he had no choice. He grabbed the detective underneath the armpits and dragged him around the corner.

"Hey you!" came the call. "Stop!"

Raito froze. He had been seen. His legs trembled for a moment as the fight or flight instinct took over. He was seriously debating whether or not to leave L where he was. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it as foolish. It would look even worse if he ran again. Especially when he considered that he was aboard a ship making it much easier for the crew to track them down. Instead he gently lowered L's body to the ground and stood beside him.

A young man with red hair rounded the corner and stood there, gasping for breath. Raito carefully raised his hands in the air.

"Stowaways?" he said.

"Yes," Raito replied.

"Uh, stay here, I need to get the captain," he said. He was gone again like a shot.

If Raito was sleep deprived, he would have been sure that he had imagined him.

Raito sighed and sat down beside L. placing his head in his lap to support it. Automatically, he checked L's breathing and took his pulse. It was steady. He sighed in relief, not knowing until then how worried he had been. It would have defeated the point of their quest if he had killed him.

Less than five minutes passed before he could hear the sound of footsteps once more. He looked up in time to see three people round the corner, with the man that had found them earlier in the lead.

"I see you weren't kidding, Jenkins," the man, who was obviously the captain said. "Get the dark-haired one up to sick bay while I have a word with this one. Make sure to support his head."

"Yes sir," Jenkins and the third man said.

Raito let go of L and moved out of their way. The other two came forward and, between them, picked L up and carted him away.

"Now for you," the captain said. "Why were you stowing away on my ship?"

"To get to America," Raito said simply.

"I see, and I suppose it was your friend that broke the cable?"

"Actually, no," Raito said. "That was just an accident. We saw it happen and used the commotion to our advantage, but I swear to you that we did not break the cable."

"I believe you," the man said. "You are aware that it is illegal to stow away on a ship in order to get to the United States, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you do it?"

"A very good friend of ours just died in there and our passports were stolen. We were going to help her family spread her ashes," Raito said.

"I see. Then I don't really blame you. You don't have to worry. I won't turn you into the authorities," the captain said. "But you will earn your own way on this ship. You will be helping with some of the simpler duties from now until we land."

"Just one more question, what happened to you two? Your friend is unconscious and your face is bruised. Is there another stowaway?"

"No, we got into a fight. We may be friends, but even we can't stand three days straight of each other's company," Raito said. "I punched him and he fell back against the wall. I didn't mean to actually knock him out."

"I can understand that," the man said slowly. "I will give you the benefit of the doubt for the moment."

Hook, line and sinker, Raito thought triumphantly. He fought desperately to hold back the smirk that his lips were trying to twist into.

"Thank you very much, sir," he said. "You are too kind."

"Come on, I think we have a couple of spare bunks available at the moment. I think you could use a proper rest."

"If it's alright with you, can I see my friend first?" Raito said.

"Of course," the man said. "I'll take you there myself."

The captain lead Raito up the stairs and down a hall he hadn't been along yet. There were only two doors in the corridor.

"One leads to the infirmary and the other to the cafeteria," the captain said. "I'll give you a proper tour tomorrow."

The captain pushed open the door marked with a bright red cross and held it open. Raito stepped in first. The man that was treating L looked up and froze.

"I ... I can't believe it," he said. "When I was checking over this injured man, I thought that there was no way that Kira could be on this ship and that he only looked similar to the photograph on the news. But now..."

Ten days remaining.

* * *

_I should point out here that I made up the floor plan of the ship. I have no idea what the inside of a real ship looks like. So yeah. Anyway please review. I should also announce this now since I have put it off for so long. I don't think there is going to be any yaoi, even though I want it to be, it's not how it is playing out unless something changes in the near future. So now I am going to duck all the flaming tomatoes that I am probably going to get. _


	14. Drama and Mystery

_So... this is a couple of days late. I'm sorry T.T. I know I vowed to update every other Saturday, but life gets in the way sometimes. In other words, I moved earlier this week and couldn't sleep because my new place is uber quiet. With my lack of sleep, I wasn't able to get anything done that sounded anywhere near coherent. I really suck at writing when I am half asleep. Anyway, here is the new chapter for you all..._

**Edit:** Woops... just realized the formatting was messed up. It is now fixed.

**Disclaimer**: I do not in any shape or form own Death Note.

* * *

**Drama and Mystery**

"Kira!" the man said.

The whole room froze, some from horror, and some from excitement.

The captain turned to Raito. "Is this true?" he demanded.

Raito debated his answer. _If I say that there has been a mistake and someone happens to have a picture of us, then we are going to have a problem because they'll want to know why I lied. If I lie and they don't find out I did then we would be safe because they hardly are going to hurt us for not being Kira. On the other hand if I admit it, I would be better off because I don't think they know how I killed and I can threaten them. But they might just throw us overboard instead._

Raito came to his decision a split second later.

"Yes," he said. He ignored the gasps that sounded throughout the room.

"I see," the captain said slowly. Then he was silent. Finally Raito couldn't take it.

"Well are you going to try to throw us overboard?" he demanded.

"Perish the thought!" the man said. "We aren't going to throw you overboard! Besides, we're short-staffed. You might be Kira, but you aren't getting away with a free voyage! Tomorrow morning you will go with Charles and he will show you how to do some of the grunt work around here."

The captain pointed out a large burly man of African descent. The man nodded his head and gestured to Raito.

"Come this way. I'll show you the correct way to clean the floors and scrubbed the toilets," the man said and moved to lead Raito out of the room.

"Will you call me when Ryuzaki wakes up?" Raito asked.

"Of course," the doctor who was still by the bed said.

"I have a question," the captain said. He pointed towards the notebook on the table beside L's bed.

"It's Ryuzaki's personal journal," Raito said. "He's extremely paranoid about the thoughts he writes down. It's best I take it with me."

Raito's fingers trembled as he reached towards it. His heart sored and a dark part of him grinned malevolently. Just a few more centimetres and ... L's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist.

"Do not touch it Raito-kun," came Ryuzaki's slurred voice.

"Yes of course. I know how protective you are of your journal, Ryuzaki," Raito said.

L slowly opened his eyes and then snapped them shut again. A slight grimace crossed his features and he rubbed the temples of his head. "My journal... is it alright?"

"No one looked at it," Raito assured him.

"Good," L said and then slowly sat up. He winced. "I believe we should stop fighting so viciously Raito-kun."

"Ah... I'm sorry, Ryuzaki," Raito said. He hadn't actually meant to knock the detective out.

"I will remember to tie Raito-kun down the next time he feels obsessive about his hygiene," L muttered. He fell back. "I believe I have a mild concussion."

"You would be correct there," the doctor said. "You are very lucky that the blow to your head was indirect."

"Yes," L muttered. "I will try not to do anything strenuous for the next two days."

"It's best the two of you get some sleep," the captain said.

Raito made his way to the door and paused. "I really am sorry, Ryuzaki."

"Raito-kun and I will have to take more care in picking the places for our fights in the future," L muttered.

Raito gave him a real smile before allowing himself to be led to the bunk room by one of the crew.

The next morning saw the captain making good on his promise of getting him to work. Charles led him around the ship showing him where the cleaning supplies were. The morning was spent on walking Raito through a variety of tasks as they tried to find him one that he could work on for the day. The kitchen proved to be a disastrous first choice and Raito ended up spending a couple of hours scrubbing the mess he made off of the kitchen appliances. It was near lunchtime before they found a menial task that Raito was good at. He was going to spend the rest of the day scrubbing the floors of the bathrooms and the upper deck.

Another hour passed. Despite the cold temperatures outside, he was caked in sweat as he thrust the mop furiously across the deck. Really, it was disgraceful! A man of his intelligence and character should not have to degrade himself to such menial tasks! Unfortunately, he had no choice. It was only now that he wondered why the captain had made him do anything in the first place. Then again, Kira was generally known as a figure of justice. It was not injustice to have to work to pay for a pass on a ship. It didn't really matter to him either way. As long as those who were most likely against him didn't try to kill him or L, he should have no problems.

The lunch bell rang and Raito dropped his mop.

"At last," he said. He left the his mop and bucket on the rail and went down and grabbed some food at the cafeteria.He came back up to the top deck a few moments later with a platter of chicken and potatoes and leaned against the nearby rail. Raito had no desire to eat with the others on the boat. Besides it would be best to keep a distance from everyone else. It would make him appear more mysterious and thus, more intimidating.

Raito cast his gaze out over the ocean, munching on a chicken leg. Disgusting greasy things he thought as he ate. But he ate them anyway. As he ate, his hand moved of its own volition into his pocket and grasped the stone. He was very glad for the device in the last few days. Without it, he was sure he would be little more than a crazed animal. On a whim, he pulled it out of his pocket and stared at it.

The stone, which had originally been the colour of lavender and reflected the sun, was now black as pitch. It seemed to eat any light that came towards it. For even though its surface was smooth and glassy like a piece of obsidian, it didn't shine at all.

"What's that?" came a voice from his left.

He turned. It was Jenkins, the man who had found them.

"My good luck charm," Raito said simply.

"Looks expensive" Jenkins Commented.

"It's just a piece of obsidian that I found a couple of years ago."

"Obsidian?"

"A type of volcanic rock. It cools extremely fast so there are few bubbles in it, unlike what most picture when they think of volcanic rock. It's not worth anything."

"I see."

Raito dropped it back into his pocket and tore another bite out of his chicken before he returned to staring out across the water.

That night, Raito stuffed the stone under his pillow. He had taken to sleeping with the stone either close to or against his body. L had been released and had promptly moved to the bunk over Raito's though he still had to take it easy for the rest of the trip. .

It was late, very late when Raito woke up. The ship rocked gently as it traveled over the ocean's water. The moonlight coming from the window revealed a shadowy figure looming above him. Raito's eyes focused on what it had just grabbed from underneath his pillow and now held in its fist. The stone.

First he was too shocked to do anything. Then his upper lip lifted into a nasty snarl as rage overwhelmed his senses. _How dare he steal from me? That bastard! I'll kill him!_ Without even a moment's hesitation, Rato got up and lunged towards the man. The man put up no resistance as Raito allowed his fist to crush into the nose of his attacker. He shoved the man against the wall and watched dispassionately as he fell down, stunned.

Raito walked to where the man lay. As soon as the man rolled over, he placed his foot on his throat and pushed down slightly until the man began to cough. He pressed down harder and the man tried to move his foot as Raito cut off his air supply with a vindictive gleam in his glowing red eyes.

"Give me one reason not to kill you now," Raito hissed.

"Raito-kun should not kill him because he would become a shinigami," L said.

"Nice try, Ryuzaki. It's not a Death Note I'm using," Raito said as the man's movements became weaker.

"Raito-kun would make things considerably more complicated for us here," L advised.

"Oh all right," Raito eased his foot off the man's windpipe.

Jenkins immediately sat up and pulled his knees to his chest, gasping. In one of his hands, he still held the stone.

"Don't you ever try that again. Stealing! From me! You should die for such a crime! However, I have spared you," Raito said. "Now give it back."

"I WON'T!," Jenkins said. Up until now, their tussle had been relatively quiet and had not woken anyone up. Jenkins' shout changed that. The lights flickered on.

A cacophony of protest welled up.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"We're trying to sleep!"

"If you people are going to fight, go do it in the hall!"

"Help!" Jenkins yelped. "Kira's trying to kill me!"

"Give me back my stone," Raito repeated. He ignored everything else in the room and extended his hand. He was now in control of himself and L noted his eyes were no longer those of Kira, but their normal honey brown.

"No! This is mine" Jenkins said. He projected his voice so it could be heard clearly by all present.

"Don't be stupid" Raito said. Not that it is possible for this man to be anything other than an imbecile. "Why are you over at my cot then?"

"You dragged me over here!" Jenkins said.

"And why would I do that?" Raito said.

"I don't know. You're Kira!"

"I kill criminals through paranormal means. I do not drag them out of bed in three o'clock in the morning."

"Well, what about hte museum then?"

"That wasn't me," Raito said.

"But they all died from heart attacks!"

"It was someone else with the same powers that I possess," Raito said. "It was not me. MY friend Ryuzaki and I have to meet with this other Kira and eliminate him. Do not interfere."

"I don't believe you," Jenkins blustered.

"Too bad," Raito said. "Give me the stone."

"Then why did you try to kill me?" Jenkins said.

"You stole the one thing that is containing my powers so that I can kill only those who I want to kill and you expect me not to be enraged?" Raito asked. "You put yourself and everyone on board at risk! I could have killed you all. Now I am asking you again: give me the stone."

"No!" Jenkins said.

"C'mon just give it to him! We all want to go back to sleep!" another of the men said.

His comment was met with a chorus of sympathetic agreement.

"But-" Jenkins started.

"But what?" Raito said.

"Can''t I hold onto it?" Jenkins burst out. "Just for insurance."

"No!" Raito said.

He winced as the cravings that he had not felt properly in several days began to well up again. He groaned and wrapped his arms around his middle as his body began to tremble. Dimly, he heard L get off his bed.

"Raito-kun is very unstable," L said. "It is best that you do what he says."

The other men called out in encouragement and warning.

"Come on, this is Kira you are talking about man. Just give it back already. Do you want him to kill you?"

Jenkins still hesitated before hesitantly proffering the stone to Raito.

But it was too late. Raito dove at L and knocked him to the floor. Jenkins dropped the stone in surprise as L fell underneath Raito. L fought back as ferociously as he could while heavy blows rained onto him from above. He rolled blindly and somehow managed to slip out from underneath Raito. L crawled over to where the stone lay a few feet away. His trembling fingers grasped it as Raito dove at him again. L ended up pressing the stone against Raito wrist as he swung one more.

If the situation weren't so serious, the confused expression that appeared on Raito's face would have been amusing. Black spots began to dot his vision. The last thing he saw was Raito's confused face before he passed out.

Raito ended up standing on deck once ended up on thinking back on what had happened with Jenkins. It reminded him once more of why he had become Kira in the first place. The fact that he had been the victim this time just made it hit home. Then again, if he was going to kill Jenkins, he might as well kill himself afterwards.

Maybe... L could writ his name in the notebook... He immediately dismissed the thought. L would never agree to it and it would make their mission pointless. After all, whoever wrote names in it would ultimately become a shinigami. One of the things they were trying to avoid.

Raito sighed and gazed up at the stars. He could have killed both himself and L tonight, as well as countless others. It was times like this that he was glad that he was intelligent enough to realize that this incident was not completely his fault. Still, he felt guilty for what had happened to L. The man had been his friend and look what he had done! He had nearly killed him. On the other hand, Jenkins was the real culprit here. He seemed to have a huge grudge against Kira. The man wanted to hurt him. Raito could see it in his eyes. It didn't even suffice to say that with Jenkins still around, something like this could happen again.

Raito let out a sigh. _Only one more day. Only twenty four hours until we reach port. Then again, a lot could happen in a day._

"Raito was it?"

Raito turned. The captain was there. "Yes," he said.

"Follow me. I want to talk to you about what happened tonight."

Raito walked with the captain up to the main cabin. Jenkins was sitting on a chair beside the desk with a sullen look upon his fac.

"What's this about?" Raito asked.

"What's this about? What's this about? You broke my nose you asshole!" Jenkins pointed to his face, which to Raito's amusement was heavily bandaged.

"You tried to steal something from me," Raito said. "I didn't kill you. Be happy with that."

"So this is waht this is about," the captain said. "Now let me be frank. Jenkins, you know that stealing from anybody aboard this ship under any circumstance is grounds for termination."

"But-" Jenkins started. "He killed my brother!"

"I what?" Raito asked.

"He was innocent and you killed him! Do you expect me to smile and to be all nice to the man who murdered him?"

"I-"

But Jenkins cut him off. "You know what the real kicker is? He supported you. I bet you don't even remember his name."

"I've passed judgment on a lot of people," Raito said slowly. "It would be hard for me to remember all of them. Was he accused of anything?"

"I was his alibi for that night," Jenkins began. "We were out playing video games at the arcade and generally having a good time. He was, as always chattering on about Kira and his latest victims. I used to do drugs on a purely recreational level and in order to pay off my dealer, I was employed by him to lure others to the world of drugs. After the arcade, I took him there. Of course, he became very angry with me that I had to knock it off. At that point in time, I didn't say anything.

"He drove me back home about midnight and left me there without a word. The next morning I heard that he had been picked up by the cops for raping his girlfriend at around the same time that I had taken him to the drug dealer. He didn't give me up, knowing that if he did, Kira would murder me. He took the fall. By that night, he was dead. I immediately quit using the drugs and turned the dealer into the cops."

Jenkins eyes were red by the time he finished. "And so help me I'll avenge him. If I don't get you, then I hope that one day, a person who you idolize as much as I did my brother, and as much as my brother did you will turn on you."

"Every man has done something to warrant having my judgment passed on him," Raito said. His insides recoiled with horror. But he was confused. _Why would they do that? After all, hadn't everyone done something to warrant their death at the pen of Kira?_

"I thought you only did criminals. Then it was you in the museum!" Jenkins said.

"I'm not about to do anything without evidence. I research all of my victims before I kill them. I just think that everyone has done that would warrant me killing them."

"Do you have any siblings? A mother and father?" Jenkins asked.

"Yes," Raito said, his face and voice were both flat. "A sister and a mother and father."

"What if you were told that she had broken the law? Would you pass judgment on her?"

"I don't think she would," Raito said.

"You aren't hearing me. I said would you pass judgment on her if she broke the law?"

Raito opened his mouth to automatically say yes. After all, he had originally said that he would have killed his own family to achieve his goal. That it was bigger than him. But now...

"No," Raito said. "I would not kill her."

"But she deserves to die. Just like everyone else," A malevolent tone darkened Jenkins' voice.

"I don't think so," Raito said. "I don't think she has it in her to commit a crime," Raito said.

"Doesn't that make you a hypocrite?" Jenkins asked. "Don't you think you deserve to die?"

"I know I deserve to die," Raito said. "But someone had to stand up and do something about the state of the world."

"And why you? What makes you so much better than anyone else. Is it your looks?"

"No, it was my intelligence."

"Intelligence?"

"My IQ is 189," Raito said. "And I received the ability to kill people without even touching them. I decided not to use it for selfish purposes."

"Oh, so since you believe that everyone deserved to die, you just killed off the ones you didn't like?"

"I would not say that," Raito said.

"Then what would you say it was?"

"I killed off those who I believed to be most deserving of death," Raito said. "Those who deliberately hurt others and caused the most misery."

"That is selfish," Jenkins said. "You just killed off those you didn't like then."

"No, there are plenty of people that I dislike and that are still alive."

"Name one," Jenkins said.

"I can't. For security reasons, I am not allowed to divulge anyone's name. There is more than one person who has my power out there. It would... be best to drop the argument altogether."

"I will avenge him," Jenkins said.

"You already said that," Raito said.

Finally, the captain raised his voice. "Enough! Both of you. Kira, I don't care what you do after you get off of this ship. I don't really support you, but I don't really hate you either. Jenkins, I retract what I said before. You will be suspended until you talk with a therapist."

Raito suppressed a wince at being called by his title and nodded. Jenkins slouched down in his seat with a sullen look on his face.

Eight days remaining.

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_So yes, this chapter was very dialogue heavy. I hope that didn't bother any of you. Please review!_


	15. Author's Note

Author's Note.

I am going on vacation and will have no internet access. I was planning to try and write a chapter and post it early, but between getting ready for Anime Evolution, preparation for the vacation and work, I literally have not been able to find the time. My sincere apologies go out to you, beloved readers. The next chapter should be up Tuesday night as I get home in the late afternoon. Please don't eat me!

Death by storm.


	16. And More Messes

_Alright, I know I said Tuesday, but I ended up getting home several hours later than I planned so I wasn't able to type it up. And then I had a fight with Google Earth as I worked to take a look at what the port in New York actually looks like. For two hours. So I had a good vacation if anyone cares to know and now am recharged._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note.

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Shinigami 15

Raito leaned against the rail of the ship, watching as the light of the American coastline began to come into view. It was two thirty in the morning and he couldn't sleep due to the fact that they were rapidly approaching the ending of a great milestone in their journey. It felt as if he were to go to sleep, it would somehow slip out of his grasp and he would wake up in a cold jail cell. Raito laughed to himself quietly. Until recently, he hadn't expected that he would ever see the inside of a jail cell let alone dread waking up in one. A day had passed since what he and L now referred to as 'the incident' and they were now just forty five minutes away from shore. He couldn't feel anything but relief, even though they still had to go all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio.

L's condition was what concerned him the most even if he were to put his guilt aside for the moment. The detective had a pretty bad concussion when Raito had seen him spread out in the medical room of the ship. He looked like he had been through a train wreck, thanks to the beating that Raito had given him. He had, of course, apologized to L.

L's response had annoyed him.

"What happened was not entirely Raito-kun's fault," he had replied. "However he is still forty-three percent of the reason why it happened. As I am not able to hit back in my current state, Raito-kun shall bake me a cake when this is all over, or accept a kick to his jaw."

It... would be hard to bake L that cake. He may be a genius, but for some reason the culinary arts had long eluded his comprehension. He sighed. _Maybe I should just buy him a cake. I wonder if he'll accept that. After all, fifty seven percent of the blame was put on Jenkins._ Not that Raito believed that for a second. The childish part of him insisted that L could be blamed just a little for what had happened.

That just brought him back to his original train of thought. Jenkins. _What is he planning?_ Raito thought._ He doesn't have a Death Note. And I don't think he would stand up on television and announce to the world that Kira has arrived in America._

He paused. _Then again, maybe he would. _It would be the most effective way to exact his revenge. On the other hand, Jenkins had already proved himself to be a little irrational...

Raito stuck his hand in his pocket and clutched the stone. His thumb traced over it as he thought. _Whatever Jenkins is planning, he still has to go against Kira and of course L, the greatest detective alive._

The shore was closer now. Raito frowned. There were blue and red lights winking in and out of existence in the distance. _There must have been an accident,_ he decided.

Raito withdrew his hand out of his pocket and placed it on the rail. He jumped as he felt something grind into his palm and looked at it. Black dust decorated his hand, visible even in the moonlight. He resisted the urge to wipe it on his clothes. _Really,_ he thought as he turned to go back inside. _This ship is so dirty._

Before the ship even docked, Raito knew something had gone wrong. The original plan was to have him and L disembark first and just leave. Something that most of the men on board the ship were more than eager to see happen.

Raito could hear the ship's engine groan even from where he and L stood, in the captain's cabin. Without warning, the ship lurched to a halt, leaving L and Raito to desperately grab onto the window frame and door knob. Raito made as if to speak, but L held up his hand to silence him. Raito's mind flashed back to what he had thought only minutes before. Jenkins had actually called the police. Or, in this case, the Cost Guard. Raito's eyes narrowed at the thought. He clenched both his fists and teeth in an effort to control his rage and frustration.

This... man was hellbent on making their lives miserable! Here they were. Less than two days away from being free of this quest and then this happens. By interfering, Jenkins was not only making it nigh impossible to complete it, but he was making it extremely hard to control the little bit of him that was still Kira. Raito trembled in rage at the injustice of it all.

_But where is the injustice?_ A tiny voice piped up from his mind. _After all, you killed his brother, who was in his eyes an innocent._

Raito clenched his fists and relaxed them in an attempt to control his temper. He supposed that if his sister was the one murdered, he'd want the killer behind bars. Scratch that, Raito knew that he would do everything in his power to put the man there.

He supposed it was fair enough. Everyone may be guilty of something, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't seek revenge. So many had died by the hand of Kira, so many had died for the sake of fulfilling his idea of justice. Many had also died from their attempt to find the Horn of Angellus. Raito bit his lip, a gesture from his early childhood. It was strange, really. Raito felt guilty for these deaths, the ones that he hadn't caused directly. But the deaths from before... he still couldn't bring himself to feel any type of remorse. He knew intellectually that what he had done was wrong because he had been operating on a flawed concept. There was no use trying to kill all who caught Kira's eye when everyone was evil.

Raito jolted to his senses as the entire ship shuddered and a great metal clanging was heard. He had noticed that his mind had been wandering a lot lately at the most inopportune times. He chalked it up to lack of sleep and tuned back into the present. The police were boarding the ship! Quickly he seized L's wrist and dragged him outside.

"Freeze!" came a shout. It was followed by the clatter of footsteps on the deck of the ship.

In his mind, Raito snorted. _As if we have any intention of doing so._ They halted before the railing. L slipped underneath the rail and fell feet first towards the ocean below. Raito did the same, ignoring the gunfire that followed their descent.

As he hit it, the cold water shocked his senses, numbing all of his senses. Overhead spotlights carved their paths over the water, illuminating his cold, wet world for a moment. He was sure that they could see him, even if he was four metres down. Then the gunfire began in earnest. Desperately, Raito dove down to avoid it and began to swim forward. Soon, too soon he found himself coming back up for a breath. The spotlight played over him and shouts came from on board both of the Cost Guard ships and the transport one that he had been on. Once again, the crack of gunfire drowned out the sound of the waves. Raito didn't waste any time, but dove down once more. He didn't bother to search for L. He knew that if he was to survive, he couldn't look for him, but hope that he would make it to shore without being caught.

One of the two Cost Guard boats swung in front him cutting off his escape. The current threatened to pull him sideways. Raito dove under again and continued towards shore. He felt like a fish caught in a trap. He was in trouble whether he swam forward or back. Raito treaded the water for a minute and ducked as gunfire once again rang out through the early morning air. An idea lit up in his mind. Raito stopped struggling against the current and let the water do with him as he wished. Immediately he was pulled sideways and he swam along with it to move faster. A crack of parting gunfire rang out as he passed the ships and he felt a burning hot iron lance through one of his shoulders. Tears of pain, drawn unwillingly from his eyes trickled down his face and mixed with the ocean water.

Raito winced and suppressed a groan as he allowed himself to go limp and be was swept away. He stayed still, pretending to be a log as the spotlight played over him from afar and then turned away. It was too dark for them to see anything properly. He had a feeling that if they were to find him now, it would be by chance. The part of him that wasn't in excruciating pain smirked. He'd won.

Raito winced as his shoulder began to throb along with his heartbeat. The water was literally rubbing salt in his wound and his right arm had gone numb. Luckily it was still functional. Raito glanced back. He couldn't tell if the boats were headed his way or not so he had to keep moving. Chances were that he would be yet another body washed up on shore in a few weeks and his rotting face would give the tourist that found him nightmares. Of course, Raito had no intention of the latter part of that happening. As the ships' search lights became little pinpricks in the distance, Raito began to fight the current again and headed towards shore.

There were no lights in front of him and Raito just prayed that there would be land there. The United States was not nearly as crowded as Japan. There was a chance that he was headed towards land that was just unpopulated. After all, he was in a industrial area. He winced with every movement he made, the pain in his shoulder slowing him considerably. He glanced back and saw that one set of lights was moving forward and on its helm was the glare of a searchlight.

Raito cursed and renewed his struggle for shore. Of course they wouldn't give up that easily. It wouldn't be too hard to get to shore in time normally, but it was dark, and he was injured. He had been the best swimmer back in his high school and now this came into play as he fought his way towards where he hoped was land. The boat came closer and he continued to move forward, slipping under the surface every few seconds as his energy began to run out. Adrenalin was the only thing that kept him moving now. It had given mothers the power to lift cars off their children and now it would give Raito the ability to reach shore.

Raito was shocked when he looked up and saw dark shadows ahead of him. He was delighted, when he accidentally slipped down underneath the ocean's surface and he touched sand, before being swept sideways for a few seconds before righting himself. Finally he hit the sandbar and staggered out of the water. He couldn't do much else but work his way into some nearby bushes and collapse, as sleep overwhelmed his body and mind.

The warm rays of the midday sun pierced his eyelids. Raito faintly wondered why L had allowed him to sleep in so late. After all, the Kira case wouldn't solve itself. With great reluctance, he forced his eyes open... to see a two foot long spider hovering over him, with L's face.

"Raito-kun?" the spider inquired.

"Raito-kun?" another voice came from beside his head.

A slice of strawberry shortcake was there. Instead of a strawberry on top, L's head was sitting there, looking at him with concern.

"Raito-kun?"

Raito sat up and turned around. He saw an L-headed turkey holding a candy bar.

"Look in the mirror, Raito-kun," came L's voice once again.

Raito was suddenly standing. He turned around. The border of the full length mirror was made entirely of copies of the detective's head. He obeyed the mirror's command and looked into it.

Glowing yellow eyes stared back at hm out of a scarred and emaciated face. Over his shoulder, tattered wings could be seen. He let out a strangled shriek that echoed off the tin mountains and frozen lake that surrounded him.

The warm rays of the real midday sun stabbed directly into his open eyes and he threw his left arm over his face in order to protect them from the blinding light. He was aware of a deep stabbing pain in his other shoulder which worsened as he sat up. He glanced around and saw that he was in an unpopulated area. The sound of a ship's horn echoed in the distance. Well, almost unpopulated.

His heart stopped. _The stone!_ He desperately searched his pockets and found it right where he left it. He pulled it out and looked at it. Black dust came off in his hands and he winced. Apparently the water had damaged the stone a bit. He hoped it didn't affect its usefulness. He dropped it back into his pocket and wiped his hands on some grass.

Raito reached over carefully and brushed his fingers against the wound. He couldn't help but yelp as he did so. Slowly he rotated the shoulder to see if the bullet was lodged anywhere. He didn't feel his bones grate, but he still bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed. He had expected that the bullet was not stuck in his shoulder bones anywhere already, but he had had to test it just to make sure.

He stumbled to his feet and wobbled for a moment. Raito knew that his primary goal was to get either food and water, or some kind of transportation. He also knew that in his current condition, it would be impossible to do so in the daylight. Though the water had probably washed away the blood, Raito knew that there would be a red hole in his shoulder. His clothes were dry and that was a blessing, but they were covered in dry salt and grime from the water. They itched like mad. His mouth was dry. He would really like to have a drink...

Raito forced himself to sit down, utterly frustrated with how the day had turned out. He and L were supposed to be on their way to Ohio to see that man, Ernhardt Cunningham or Wiltshire or whatever his name was! He was _not_ supposed to be on a beach with a bullet his shoulder and separated from L. At least the one assurance he had was that L wasn't dead. It made sense to Raito ever since Ryuk had told him about the eye deal. After all, what use is it having the lifespan of the person laid out if they were to die before it ended? When Misa wrote L's name in the Death Note, his lifespan had been readjusted to twenty three days. Or, as of now, seven. L would survive, but Raito didn't know whether or not the detective had been captured, or if he was as injured as himself. Chances were, Raito was on his own for awhile.

The one thing that worried Raito the most right now was his shoulder. He wouldn't be able to bandage it up and he wouldn't be able to clean it. It was almost a guarantee for an infection. That and it would leave the nastiest scar if not treated.

He sighed and leaned against the tree that was growing directly behind him. He had to at least get some sleep until night fell and he was able to move. But sleep was long forthcoming.

When Raito opened his eyes again, the last rays of the sun were peaking over the horizon and the sky overhead was cast in shadow. Raito staggered to his feet and nearly fell. His legs were stiff and held little strength due to his awkward sleeping position. He grabbed the side of the tree with his good hand and steadied himself. Despite his sleep, he actually felt weaker.

Raito began to work his way across the empty plot of land to where he had heard the sound of the ship's horn coming from earlier. He could see glimpses of the shipyard through the trees. Even from here he could already tell that it was much larger than the one in New Hampshire had been. Raito finally stepped out of the trees and hit a fence. With barbed wire. Beyond it lay dozens of semi trucks all sitting there while the men and women who owned them were all in the restaurant across the parking lot, or had deigned to leave them here for whatever reason.

Raito circled around the perimeter. He had no wire cutters this time so he would have to find the gate. Raito ended up about two hundred metres from the parking lot in his search for the entrance. He found it. Raito slipped back into the trees and waited. The plus side was that gigantic semi trucks had a lot of blind spots. He waited until one rolled up, and the gate was rolled away by a guard. Raito could hear the man in the truck exchanging a few words with the man at the outpost. With a squeeze on the stone for good luck, he slipped out of the bushes and to the side of the truck directly underneath the mirror on the passenger's side.. Raito felt exposed, even though he knew that neither guard nor driver could see him.

The truck began to move, and Raito did his best to move with it. He had tried run to keep up with it, but in seconds stopped as he saw shadows between to lamp posts. He headed towards them and felt a wave of relief as he headed towards the lot. Now all he had to do was break in and hot wire a semi truck.

Seven days remaining.

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_Have I ever mentioned that my chapters never goes as planned? I didn't mean to have Raito get shot. Honest. And L and Raito weren't meant to split up... but it was much better than what I had planned so what the heck. Please review and tell me what you think! _


	17. The Kira Supporters

_Hey all, it's still Saturday so this chapter isn't late XD. I got a lot of reviews for last chapter and I thank you kind readers for them. This chapter is probably one of my least favourites so far just because I have never written in L's point of view before... so yeah. Enjoy._

_One more thing. Like many of you, school is starting next week for me. As a result, my updates will be more sporadic because I am working full time as well. Yay rising tuition costs!! Not. _

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own Death Note.

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**The Kira Supporters**

Like Raito, L felt stunned when he hit the water. Unlike him, the weight of his baggy clothes immediately began to drag him down to the ocean's depths. He flailed clumsily for a moment before reaching down and unbuckling his pants. It was one of the times that L saw the advantages and disadvantages of wearing baggy clothes simultaneously. As an after thought, he struggled with his sweater for a few moments before he managed to get his sweater off as well and let them go, before heading up to the surface.

He had gone with out air for what seemed like forever now. His mind began to haze over as he fought desperately towards the surface. L broke out of the water mouth first and inhaled deeply. His darkened vision began to clear again as he gasped. _I have never appreciated oxygen this much in my life. _

His ears were assaulted with the roar of gunfire as well as glaring searchlights. L saw that almost all of them were focused around one area. _Raito-kun_, he thought. The current threatened to sweep him towards the net of lights. He fought it fiercely even as the gunfire continued. Could it be? No. If they were still firing, either Raito wasn't dead, they didn't know where he was and were just shooting randomly, or he was dead and the current had already swept his body away. L already knew that he had been set to die twenty three days after his name had been written in the note. Unfortunately, he was not sure if this meant that he wouldn't die before that time or not. He hadn't had the time to test that out on a criminal and he wasn't willing to test it out on himself.

L shivered, the warmth of his adrenalin rush was starting to leave him and the pounding of his head was slowly beginning to increase. His vision went out of focus temporarily and then readjusted itself. A lingering symptom from his concussion. He was only dimly aware of how his body was beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

L glanced over his shoulder to see how far he had gotten. The answer was a bit depressing. He had just made it past the ships. L knew that it was because of his condition as well as the current, but he still felt frustrated. He glanced forward again and swam for about ten more minutes before turning to look back again. He had made it about twenty metres.

One of the ships was turning towards where he was. L struggled to move faster, to no avail. The searchlights swung around and just missed him as they passed by. L just watched in surprise as they looked everywhere but where he was, before swimming out of the way so he wouldn't be sucked into the ship's propellers. The ship's wake came afterward and pushed him a little closer to the centre of the channel and the opposite direction that he had intended to go. He... couldn't believe that that had just happened. But he was grateful nonetheless. L was sure that he would have been shot if it hadn't just passed him like that.

With the danger of the ship gone for the moment, L doggedly resumed his task. With every passing moment, he rated his level of survival lower and lower. From fifty percent, to twenty five. Then from twenty five to ten and finally from ten to five. But the stubborn and childish part of him refused to give up. He _would _make it. L wouldn't allow anything else.

It had been perhaps twenty minutes since the ship had passed him, and L had become too exhausted to make anymore forward progress. All of his energy was focused on keeping himself from being swept away by the current. Yet he knew that it was only a matter of time. He debated just letting himself go and to be swept to wherever the current would go. It would keep him alive a little longer because he would no longer be wasting so much energy fighting it and he could just focus on keeping his head above water.

A boat's motor could be heard above the clash of waves. L could see the lights of a small pleasure craft headed past him only about four metres away. He only paused for a moment before calling to them.

"I could use some assistance!" L yelled. "Please!"

But the boat continued.

"Help me! Please!" L shouted once again though he knew it to be in vain.

There wasn't even a falter in the boat's movements. L lowered his head slightly and coughed as he accidentally swallowed a mouthful of polluted, salty water. The sound of the motor faded into the distance. Disheartened, L struggled to keep himself in the same place, but the movements were even weaker than before. Then he heard the sound of the boat's motor once again in the distance. He was sure that it was the same one.

The little boat came racing back towards him and slowed down just before it could reached him.

"You look like you could use some help, Kira," came a man's voice.

L looked up. "It would be most welcomed."

A life preservation ring (1) was thrown out to him. L grabbed hold of it, grateful that there was now something else to hold him above water. He closed his eyes as he was slowly hauled to and then over the side of the craft.

L's heart pounded in relief and he staggered to his feet to face his rescuers before falling back down into darkness.

The first thing L was aware of was the pounding of his head. He winced and tried to lift a hand to his temple in an attempt to ease the ache and only then realized what an odd position he was in. L froze. He had never slept flat on his back. So where was he? And who had put him in this position? He could hear nothing but the crashing of waves outside his window and the occasional passing car. The scent of salt blew in from the open window.

After determining that there was no one nearby, L opened his eyes to unfamiliar surroundings and shook his head. _What happened last night?_ It took a few more moments before the memories began to filter through.

It was clear where he was now. He was in a house full of Kira supporters. They had dressed him in his sleep as well because he was now wearing grey pajamas. L's hands went to his chest and felt for the notebook. It wasn't there. He glanced around frantically and finally spotted it on a night stand by his bed with a change of clothes and a note

_Kira,_

_We are honored to have you in our home. You have done so much for us in the past. We can only hope that this small deed will be help repay you. We will be home around four in the afternoon. In the meantime, please feel free to use the facilities and eat whatever you like. Please do not leave until then. There is a manhunt going on for you and your partner across the five closest states._

_Sincerely,_

_Nicholas and Mariana Bourdeau._

So Raito had escaped the clutches of the police. Now the question was whether he was alive or dead.

L strapped the notebook on, noticing as he did that the strap had been clean and the book dried. He grabbed the pile of clothes and ignored the pounding of his head. Instead he wandered about the house until he found the bathroom and stepped inside of it.

He sighed as the hot water hit him. L knew that he would have to find Raito now. He had to be alive or else all of what they had worked on in the last two weeks had been pointless. He would just have to go find Raito as soon as possible. It didn't matter that it was flawed logic. L _would _search for him and he _would_ be found alive.

Though L knew that he would have to rest a bit longer. He stopped the shower and reached for a towel to dry his hair with. As much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't rested properly after he had received his first concussion, and he was pretty sure that was a bad thing, considering those with concussions were supposed to get plenty of bed rest. Something he wasn't fond of. It would also explain the disorientation he felt when he first woke up. Usually he would have figured out what situation he was in much more quickly. He reached for the door handle and misjudged it as his slid out of focus for a moment. He reached again and this time was able to grasp it firmly.

L took care to go slowly back up to his room and fell back into bed. He then slept.

L was woken once more by the sound of voices coming from downstairs. He immediately noticed how much better his head felt. After pushing the blanket away from him, he slipped out of the bed and picked up the clothes that he had dropped on the floor before he had gone back to bed. He picked them up with just a hint of distaste. _These are nothing like my normal clothes, _he thought with a slight pout forming on his face.

The black shirt was a button up shirt and L just didn't wear them. They were more to Raito's taste than his. The jeans that went along with it were not as baggy as he was used to either. He supposed that it was what his two benefactors had thought he would like and it was unlikely that they had the clothes that he preferred here. He looked down. As if to add insult to injury, the shoes were not like his worn comfortable tennis shoes. Instead black runners stood there. L put them on grudgingly, but ignored the socks that came with the outfit. No matter what, he refused to wear them.

He then went for the door. L walked down the stairs to the main living area of the house. A middle aged couple sat on a couch watching television. Their backs were facing him, but L saw that the man had brown hair and the woman long curly black.

He then glanced at the what was on the screen and narrowed his eyes. Jenkins was on television. He was describing the harrowing escape that he and the crew had had with many embellishments.

"Excuse me," L said quietly.

"Oh Lord Kira!" the woman exclaimed. "You're up but perhaps you should get some more rest. It's only about seven o'clock in the evening and you burned yourself to exhaustion last night."

"I require very little sleep," L said.

"But you must be hungry," Mariana replied. "Allow me to fix something up for you."

She bowed to him and raced for the kitchen.

"You'll have to excuse my wife," Nicholas Bourdeau said. "She's wanted to meet you ever since what happened to Michelle."

"Michelle?"

"She was our daughter and she was raped and murdered by the New York Slaughterer. You killed him after he got off free for her murder. It was a great comfort after he told us himself that he had actually killed her after the trial had finished."

"That's terrible," L said.

"Yes it is. And that is why we have started an online group of people who are grateful to Kira for similar reasons. We help suppress the police forces with bribery," the man said. "That way it will be even harder for Kira to be caught. It's the least we can do."

"Well I am grateful to Nicholas," L said. "But didn't the police block off the channel to the harbor?"

"Yes, but if you notice, we are on one of the richer estates just past where the blockade was put in place. And my wife and I take a weekly cruise on our boat at around three to five in the morning in the summer months so we can watch the sun rise. It's rather beautiful."

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Mariana re-entered the room. "I forgot to ask what you would like, Kira," she said.

"Strawberry cake, if you have it," L replied. "If you don't then anything else that has sugar in it."

"You sure you don't want a proper dinner?"

"I am leaving as soon as possible to search for my partner. The longer I stay here, the more I am a danger to you," L said. "And I would hate to ask for anything else."

"Where are you headed after this?"

"Wisconsin," L said. "We have a support network there and will be going underground for a short time."

"Well you will at least need transportation," Nicholas said. "Allow me to provide you with a car."

"Will that not be a problem for you?" L said.

"Not at all, we're very well off. We have several cars as well as one that will be perfect for you. It's an older one of mine, but it won't stand out too much."

"Do you have a map of the local area, Nicholas?" L asked. "Or could I access your computer so that I can print one off?"

"Call me Nick," the man replied. "And I'll look it up for you."

Mariana came back in with a slice of seven layer chocolate cake. "I'm sorry, but we don't have any strawberries."

"They're almost impossible to find out of season anyway," L said and cut into the cake eagerly.

Watari had gotten in the habit of buying about one hundred pounds of the berries when they were in season and then freezing them after L's first year as a detective which was when his sugar addiction had gotten out of control. Before that, he would at least have eaten some healthy foods.

"Mariana," Nicholas said hesitantly. "You don't suppose I could - "

"Absolutely not," she said firmly. "Your health is bad enough without it."

"I'll go look up the map then," Nicholas said. He fled the room and his wife's wrath.

L finished off his cake in record time and then set the plate in front of him on the coffee table. Nicholas came back in the room and handed him a couple of sheets of paper."

"Here's a map of the local area and the harbor and another with directions to Wisconsin," he said.

L took them out of the man's outstretched hand.

"I thank you for your hospitality," he said. "Nicholas. Mariana. But it is time for me to leave."

"Oh I wish you could stay longer," Mariana sighed. "I could introduce you to others who support you."

"Perhaps another time," L said even though he knew that they were slated to die by the Shinigami King's hand the moment that he left. L knew perfectly well that the blame was on him. He was the one who asked for help. He was the one who put the value of his life before so many others in the last two weeks. He never was able to pretend that by doing this they would be able to prevent the taking of more lives than not. Raito may be able to fool himself about it, but he wasn't able to. Yet they had shown him a reason why people supported Kira. One that he had already known, but still it was easy to see why they were so grateful to him. Thankfully, the fact that he was thought to be Kira worked out to his advantage in this case.

"Allow me to lead you to the car garage and I shall show you the vehicle that I will be giving you," Nicholas said. "The garage isn't connected to the house because that's the way the man who killed our daughter broke into the house and took her."

He lead L out of the living room and out the front door. Nicholas pulled his keys out of his pocket and hit a button on a small remote. There was a creak and then the door began to rise slowly. There were four cars inside. Nicholas went over to the oldest and most inconspicuous one and unlocked the door.

"I would give you the Porsche, but that's a little too flashy for what you need," he said. "But this little Kia Spectra is pretty good as well. It has good gas mileage and has only been on the road a couple of times. It is only about two years old and the gas tank was filled last week so you will be good to go."

Nicholas handed the key over to L who walked over to the car and unlocked it.

"Well I guess this is goodbye," the man said.

"Yes, it is," L said. "Both I and my partner thank you for your aid."

"It was nothing," Nicholas said. "Bye."

"Goodbye," L said.

After a brief examination of the controls, he turned the car on and pulled out of the driveway. He paid no mind to the figure that was collapsing onto the ground or the knowledge that Mariana was dead of a heart attack as well. Instead he stepped on the gas and raced down the road to find Raito. It was nearing midnight when L began to approach the area where he thought Raito had washed up. It had taken longer than anticipated because of all the roadblocks by people who were desperately looking for Kira.

Eight days remaining.

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_I know that the last one said seven days remaining but it has not rolled over to midnight yet in L's pov so yeah..._

_Does anyone know what those circular life preservers are called? I can't seem to remember at the moment._

_For all of you who are wondering how Raito will hot wire the truck, that will be in the next chapter because this one ran longer than expected. _

_So! Please review and tell me what you think. _


	18. Cops'n Robbers

_Alright, so I finally finished this chapter and was planning to upload it as a Christmas present to all of you, but my Internet is being finicky XP. I also am writing this A/N to inform you all that I will be posting a three thousand word chapter every three days until this is done. So, what has happened since I disappeared? Well my semester was hell. Thankfully my next one won't be as much. On the other hand, since I have posted the last chapter in August, I have aquired a new laptop, and a boyfriend O.o... I tripped over the cord and my old one went flying. And then it went splat. And I had a bit of a temper tantrum XD. Anyway, as interesting as that all is to you all, I am betting that you would like to read the chapter, yes? Enjoy XD._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note.

_I will be fussing with this chapter tomorrow as I realize that I probably made some mistakes editing. _

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Chapter 17

Raito gazed up at the semi truck as he realized exactly how impossible it would be to actually hot wire it. Under normal circumstances, it would have been no problem, but he had a bullet in the shoulder and a rather unpleasant fever to accompany it.

He leaned his head against the cool metal of the truck door and sighed. He felt so tired. A wave of dizziness temporarily overcame him and he leaned more of his weight against it and waited until the world had righted itself.

Raito knew he was in an even worse way because not only was he separated from L, he also hadn't had anything to eat or drink for several hours. His throat burned at the very thought. In the distance he could hear other semi trucks moving out to transport their goods around the world. He gazed at the ground in desperation. It was times like this that he wished most for a rock to just be conveniently placed there. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Raito stepped away from the truck, wobbling as he did so. He walked along the rows of semi trucks looking for something, anything that could help him. There was nothing. Well, there was an old pen on the ground, but that was it. Raito gazed out at the gravel road beyond the barbed wire fencing.

There were stones large enough to possibly break glass, but no way to get them over or under the fence.

Raito knew he would have to leave here before sunrise. It would be suicide otherwise. He gave up looking for hte moment and wandered back over to the truck that he had originally wanted to steal. Raito shuddered and changed the word to 'borrow'. Raito Yagami never stole.

Raito leaned back against the truck and thought. He sighed once more and looked up at the sky, his eyes following hte steam of his breath up to the stars. A gust of wind blew by, ruffling his sea salt hair. Raito froze as he heard something creak behind him. He whipped around and saw... nothing but a loose passenger's side mirror dangling off a nearby truck. _Well that's against regulation_, Raito thought dimly.

Another gust of wind blew by, this time carrying hte scent of electricity. Raito shivered, then sneezed. _Great, it's going to rain as well_, he thought. He watched the mirror slowly sway back nad for like a pendulum. It was almost hypnotic. Raito watched it with curiosity.

Raito thought about how heavy the mirror must have to be to swing like that. His eyes widened as a revelation struck him.

If he could reach it, then he could break into the semi. Later, Raito would state to L that it was his fever and the infection from the wound that caused him to do this. Now, he stepped up on the ledge that was just below the door. He hung on with his good arm and fought to retain his balance.

He then slid his good hand along the bar that held the mirror at the end of it. He grasped the mirror and hung off it. When it did nothing, he then let his feet leave the ledge. With a horrific shriek, the bar came loose, but still held. Raito found himself, quite suddenly, on the ground, stunned. He coughed. He couldn't even remember falling. Staggering to his feet, he went to try again.

...

As L sped down the road to the docks, he diligently kept his thoughts off of the people who had helped him. And how their corpses were now strewn inside the house and on the driveway.

It didn't work. L had rarely felt anything for anyone. Not pity, nor even love, except maybe for Watari. For those two people though, he did feel bad, at least. They had been Kira supporters, but they had also been good people.

A horn blared and L returned his main thoughts to the road. The horn sounded again and L glanced in his rear-view mirror. The car behind him was madly swaying back and forth behind him. The man in the car shook his fist at him. L glanced up and noted that there was no traffic ahead of him. He was going the speed limit, and the man could easily pass him, so what was his problem? L continued at the same speed as he had been going before. The man honked again and his car was now tailgating his.

L blinked. Was it possible that he man had seen what had happened? He quickly shook that thought out of his mind. It wasn't likely. The car behind him swerved a bit, and that was when L realized that the man was too drunk to realize that he could pass him. There was no one else coming in either direction. Up ahead, he could dimly see the lights of New York City. L looked in the mirror again. He had to shake off the annoying drunk before he did him some damage.

Luckily, it was rather easy to do so. L simply moved over to the lane for oncoming traffic and the man shot past him... before crashing into a nearby ditch. L wasn't even tempted to pull over. He had a Kira to rescue if he was to do anything. L's mouth felt horribly dry due to his concussion. His head had stopped throbbing after he had woken up at the Bourdeau house much to his relief so his thoughts were clear and he was fully functional.

L sped through the cities of Bridgeport, followed by Stamford. Unlike what the Bordeaus had claimed, he met no resistance at the borders, then again, he had chosen some of the less major streets to pass along. There was no sound at all except that of the car's engine and the occasional whine of an engine as another vehicle passed him by. He felt grateful to arrive at, what was by his reckoning at least, about ten kilometers from the border between Connecticut and New York. Mindful of what Bourdeau had said, he avoided all of the main roads and instead turned into a residential neighbourhood.

Once again, there were no other cars on the road save the occasional one. L again stayed off the main roads as he cruised over the border into New York and again into New Jersey. It took him a lot longer because of the convoluted route that he decided to take.

L pulled out a map and perused it idly. There was a place along the shore where the land bent slightly and sand had collected to make it shallower. He pictured the angle Raito had been moving in and guessed that he would have been washed onto land a few miles down from the shipping lanes. That is, if he made it at all. The possibility of Raito being dead crossed his mind several times. He ignored the thought to the best of his ability, instead brainstorming up several different locations that Raito might have ended up.

Eventually he stopped at a gas station to put some more fuel in his car. It was a good thing, he reflected, that Nicholas had been insistent on giving him some money before he had left. A lot actually. L now had about five thousand dollars' worth of cash in his car. Nicholas had gone to the bank before he had left. He estimated that it would be more than enough to cover their expenses and get them to their destination on time. The teenager at the counter took his money. When L looked up into the attendant's worshipful face, he knew that he had been recognized. He turned and began to walk out of the store.

"Keep up the good work, Kira! You've got followers everywhere!"

L did not acknowledge him, but continued to head for his car.

L eventually narrowed it down to two places where Raito could have possibly ended up. Judging from the angle that Raito had been washed away, one possible location was the docks. The other was a little more far fetched. He could have washed up on one beach if he considered which way the currents were going at the time. According to the map, there was one near a huge parking lot, usually designed for semi trucks. L turned his car back onto one of the more main roads and headed for the freeway.

L became vaguely aware that he was speeding when he turned onto the exit that would take him to the docks. He ease up on the gas a bit. It would not do to draw attention.

His mind wandered back to how little a chance he had to actually find him. L had always been a man who would rely on statistics more than luck. Statistics were, well more accurate. _No, _he had to remind himself yet again. _The Shinigami King would not let Raito-kun die before his game is finished. _

He swung onto the road that, according to the map, lead to the beach and froze as he heard sirens in the distance. L slowed and listened intently. They were coming closer. He bit his thumb. They seemed to be coming from both directions. Resisting the urge to step on the gas, L instead eased the car to the side of the road and turned it off. He then slid out of the driver's seat and closed the door as quietly as he could. The semi truck parking lot was quite close to there and L couldn't stay to look for Raito right now. The trees weren't as dense as he would have liked them to be.

The sirens seemed to be almost upon him. With one last glance behind him, L ran in the direction he judged the trucks to be. A sound reached his ears that he had been dreading to hear. Silence. The only sounds that could be heard was his feet hitting the ground, which were almost drowned out by the pounding of his heart. He reached the fence and glared up angrily at the razor wire. He slowed down and began to circle the compound, debating whether to find a way in, or to move on.

Eventually he decided that it would be wiser to move on. He didn't have any time to look for a way in. L ran along beside the fence, hoping that the police would think that he was taking a less obvious path.

Then he heard the dogs in the distance. L blocked off all thoughts as panic threatened to take over and entered a meditative state. Almost immediately his thoughts became focused again.

Raito tilted his head up as he heard the barking in the distance. He was leaning against the truck once more, trying to regain his strength before he was to heave the broken mirror through the truck window. His throat felt dry and burned every time he drew a breath. He licked his dry lips, hoping to moisten them a bit. Exhaustion swept over him in warm waves. He had to try very hard to avoid falling asleep as he gathered his energy.

The sound of feet hitting the ground made it known to Raito's ears and he turned in time to see the shadow of a man race by. One of the parking lot lights revealed him for a moment. Raito's eyes narrowed. It was impossible. The clothing was all wrong. But the hair... he had only seen that on one particular person's head before.

"L?" he called out.

The shadow skidded to a stop and turned back briefly.

"Raito-kun? How did you get in there?"

"It's a long story," Raito said dizzily. He blinked as darkness once again threatened to cover his vision. What part of his mind that was still coherent distanty informed him that he had reached the end of his strength and was in dire need of assistance. Dimly, he wondered why L was standing at the door to their room. After all, he wasn't going to let the detective drag him away for another of his midnight snacks. "We're done for today, Ryuzaki. You told me yourself. So let me get some sleep."

"I believe Raito-kun is delirious," he heard L mumble as the detective came a few steps closer. "Why else would he be saying that?"

"Because. I'm going to sleep in this," Raito pointed in the vague direction of the truck he was leaning against. "You have to get out of this habit of staying up all night. It isn't good for you and it is most definitely not good for me."

The statement was said softly, and without anger. L was worried now.

"Raito-kun?"

Raito turned and looked at him. The corner of his lips turned up into what could have been a smile, before he collapsed. L glanced at his friend lying on the ground on the other side of the fence. The dogs were almost upon him and he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun them.

Making up his mind, L grasped onto the chain links and climbed. He could feel his arms being torn to shreds as he wrapped his hands around the top of the fence and swung his body high enough to avoid getting anymore cuts. He landed hard and rolled to evenly distribute the shock on his body before stumbling his way over to Raito.

L fell to his knees beside Raito and checked to see if he was still breathing. As he watched, the other's chest rose slowly and fell, and he felt his breath tickle the side of his face. He allowed himself a moment to sigh in relief before he glanced at the truck mirror lying beside him. It occurred to him that Raito must have grabbed it in an attempt to break into the truck.

"Raito-kun..." he trailed off. He heard growling coming from behind him.

L turned around. As if they had just received some invisible cue, the German Shepherds jumped at the fence, barking loudly. He had no time, and nothing else on him that would break the lock. L examined the window for a moment, before jumping down and picking up the mirror. Grasping it by the metal corner, he jumped back onto the ledge of the truck and hooked one hand around the door handle. The other hand raised the mirror and smashed it into the upper right corner of the glass. The loud crash seemed to drive the dogs into more of a frenzy. The pane cracked, and then just fell.

Shaking some stray shards of glass from his hair, L tossed the mirror away from him and unlocked the door. He stepped down and pulled it open. Raito was unconscious through the entire thing. He walked over to Kira and lifted him into his arms. _Raito-kun has lost a significant amount of weight recently. _L noted idly. It was no doubt that their flight across continents had done such a thing.

The sound of something falling made itself known over the dogs' barks and growls. L watched as it rolled away, before realizing that it was that stone that the Shinigami King had given to Raito. It was dark underneath the lighting coming from the overhead lamp. He jumped down and grabbed it. He then climbed back up and placed it into one of Raito's hands and curled it into a fist over it. L didn't trust the stone in the least, but it seemed to help Raito and they could use all the help they could get. He wiped the black soot that had accumulated on his fingers onto his pants.

He then stepped down onto the ledge and looked underneath the steering wheel. After locating the correct wires, he twisted them together and was rewarded with the roar of the truck's powerful engine.

"Hey you! Stop!"

L ignored him and put the truck into reverse. Since when had yelling at criminals to stop worked? Instead he slammed his foot on the gas. Slowly, or slowly in comparison to other vehicles, the truck began to gain speed. He tore through the parking lot with the crack of gunfire echoing behind him. L didn't even bother to exit in a conventional fashion. The moment he saw a road, he turned the truck towards the fence and just plowed right through it. He drove in the direction that would take him farther away from where he had abandoned the other car.

There was just one problem. L's eyes widened in realization. Or maybe it wasn't a problem. He had left his map in the car. The police would not think that they were most likely heading towards Wisconsin, but in reality heading towards Cincinnati, Ohio. He sighed and shook his head. Those thoughts were best saved for later. He could already hear the sirens wailing in the distance and pushed down the gas pedal down just a bit harder. He could not afford to be caught this late in the game, and he had put them in the perfect position to lose. All they had to do was cut off both ends of the road and they were done for.

Thankfully, it was a rather short road and L took advantage of that by pulling out and turning onto the highway there. Immediately he headed back in the general direction of New York, the opposite way that the police would think he had to go. L pulled off the highway at the closest exit, not really caring where they went, only that they were away from their pursuers. After the sirens had faded into the distance, L guided the truck over to the side of the road and checked on Raito's progress.

He checked that Raito was still breathing and took the Death Note out from underneath his shirt. He touched it to Raito's free hand and watched as he began to look noticeably better. L found it both startling and frightening. In theory, it should only make Raito look marginally better, but the feverish look and the pain lines formed, no doubt, because of the wound, had relaxed away from his face. His breaths began to come more easily and L could swear that his wound no longer looked infected either. It really was frightening to see. It furthered their own goals though, so L was not about to worry about it now.

Sirens wailed in the distance once again and L started the truck up again. It was time to get moving, and maybe to find a new vehicle.

Seven days remaining.

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_Please review? Even if it is just a "What the hell took you so long?!" XD. As always, constructive criticism is welcomed. _


	19. How to Elude the Cops: L Style

_Hey all, it's been five months, hasn't it? ... I never expected to go this long without updating this. I do feel bad. But I went through a depressed stage and had a hard time concentrating on anything . I have ADHD so when I failed a good chunk of my classes in two consecutive semesters, I went back on my meds and am much happier now. Happy enough, to be able to bring you this chapter. I will admit that it might be as much as a month between chapters now. But NOT five months. _

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Death Note.

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Chapter 18

How to Escape the Cops: L Style

Above the howl of the sirens, L heard a thocking sound. A light glanced off the truck hood and he winced at the glare. It was still dark. He had to find a way to lose it. The spotlight was making it hard to see. L glanced up at a road sign as he passed it. _Perfect_ L thought. He swerved into the lane with the sign for the tunnel. Hopefully it would be a long one.

The situation was the best L could hope for bar the sudden appearance of another semi truck identical to his. L pressed his foot down on the accelerator and bit his thumb. It was... exhilarating to leave so much to pure chance. He entered the tunnel. Immediately he cut the lights and slowed down. He blinked a couple of times to adjust to the loss of the spotlight.

L again glanced about knowing that the helicopter would be at the other end waiting for him. He moved into one of the lanes going in the opposite direction and farthest away from the lane that he had been in.

L resisted the temptation to slam his foot back down on the accelerator and continued on. After what seemed to be a lifetime, he exited the tunnel and flew right past the helicopter and turned the corner.

Headlights shone brightly, almost blinding him. Tires squealed as the car simultaneously slammed on its brakes and swerved out of the way and spun across into the oncoming traffic lane. It rolled once, twice and a third time before coming to a halt on its hood. L stepped back down on the gas and the truck gathered speed.

A smile briefly crossed L's face. He was sure he had just lost some of the cars that were chasing him, as well as the helicopter. Some of them would stop to help those who were in the car.

Sure enough, he could still hear the sirens. L sighed. He had to get off the highway and switch vehicles. His eyes were drawn over to the slumped figure beside him. It would be hard to succeed with Raito still unconscious.

L took a deep breath and gnawed at his thumb. He knew he was at a distinct disadvantage. The cars were slowly gaining on him. Soon they would try to force him off of the road.

This was where L knew he would have the advantage. It was very hard to force a semi to do anything that its driver didn't want it to. Due to its weight, the truck was also more stable than any of the police cars.

L could see them out of his side mirror. There was one coming up on his side, lights flashing. He glanced to his other side and noted another one. Even though he couldn't see it because of the truck's blind spot, he was sure that there would be one directly behind him as well. That was certainly a lot less than had been there earlier. L was sure that one car would be enough to help those who were involved in the crash.

Then it hit him. The next exit must be where the other cop cars were waiting. It would be a classic pincer move and he would have nowhere to would have to take the exit after the one coming up. It would mean that he would have to survive for another five or so minutes, but he knew that he had no choice.

A police car edged up on the side. He wondered if the car would be able to knock him off the road by clipping his tail, but quickly dismissed the thought. He wouldn't put it past them to start shooting at his tires though. No shots rang out. L frowned. Were they having communication problems?

At last, L was able to see the next exit coming up. The police car had slowly crept up the sides of the semi. On L's side there was a man with part of his upper torso leaning out of the window of the car. His face was obscured by a dark helmet. L hunched over the wheel as he pulled the trigger. Gunfire echoed behind him as well. Apparently they didn't care whether they were alive or dead. _Or they only need one of us._

The United States had undoubtedly been hurt by Kira's murders as had judiciary systems around the world. It wouldn't be justice for the American people if they were just killed. In the eyes of the public, it would make them no better than Kira himself.

L winced as he felt one of the tires go. The semi swerved of its own accord before L got it back under control. The police car on the other side seemed to have anticipated the move and had moved out of range.

Finally the next exit loomed. L continued to drive straight and he felt another tire go. At the last minute, he changed lanes. The semi jolted as if it had hit a bump and L forced it to go up the ramp.

L heard the wailing sirens behind him increase in volume and knew an alert had been issued. Either that, or they were coming closer. Neither thought was that encouraging. The semi truck was just too noticeable. He was bound to get caught with that. What he needed was a family sedan and preferably a nondescript colour such as silver or white. He would also have to find a way around that nasty computerized system that now could identify cars automatically by their license plate and report whether they were stolen or not. L glanced at the tool box that was lying on the floor of the passenger's side. Luckily, he had a rather simple plan to defeat that system.

By the time that L lost the cops, it was that time of day the entirety of existence seemed to hold its breath in the anticipation of the sunrise. L steered the truck with one hand. The other hand was balled in a fist with his thumb at his teeth. L took a particularly vicious bite out of the digit as he tried to relax and then jumped as he felt warm liquid begin to trace a path down the side of his hand. L sucked the blood off his hand. He really needed some cake.

He sighed and glanced over at Raito. He had not so much as stirred in the last three hours. It was to be expected, of course, but it didn't make L feel much better. He had left the Death Note in Raito's hands and the other had quickly tightened his hold around it until his knuckles were white. Other than that, Raito was doing well.

His biggest liability was him at the moment. It would be easy enough in theory to do. It would be a lot harder in reality lugging around someone who was roughly the same height and weight as him. He wasn't looking forward to it, but he would have to do it soon. It would be easier to do so before day broke. L glanced around and saw that he was heading towards a suburbs. He shuddered at the sound of sirens still echoing in the distance, though they seemed farther away. With the knowledge that it was only temporary, L turned into the parking lot of a worn down looking strip mall. He drove around the back of the large building so that the truck would look less conspicuous.

He had seen a car a few lots away that looked like a promising pick. It was white and an older, but more common model. He took one last glance at Raito who was still unconscious. L snatched the Death Note away from where it was leaning against Raito. He jammed it back in its carrying case underneath his shirt and opened the door.

With one last glance back at the truck, L stuck his hands in his pockets, hunched over, and began to walk. The parking lot lights cast a faint silhouette of him. The sirens had faded away almost entirely and for the first time in a while, L allowed himself to relax. Well, as much as he could relax under the situation that he found himself in. He passed by another car and stopped to unscrew the antenna out of its socket. Armed with what he needed, he again headed toward his destination.

The car he needed sat in space two hundred and four. It wouldn't be too much of a challenge, breaking into the old car. He bent the tip of the antenna until the metal was curved into a pronounced hook. He located the lock mechanism and slid his home made Slim Jim between the window and the car door. After carefully feeling around the inside of the door for a few moments, he felt it catch on something for an instant and then pull free. L steadied the antenna and moved it back over to where he had felt it catch and yanked, hard. With an audible click, the door lock popped up.

L opened the door and immediately knelt down so that he could pull the wires out. He twisted the two ends together and with a weak cough, the engine started. He slipped behind the wheel and winced as the smell of cat urine reached his nose. L shuddered and then pushed it to the back of his mind. He pulled out of the lot and drove the one hundred and fifty metres or so to where the semi lay.

L opened the door of the truck. His eyes fell on Raito. The sweat on the unconscious Kira's brow glistened in the soft glow of the street lights. He reached his hand out and touched the other's forehead and was relieved to find that despite the dampness it was cool. He adjusted the way that Raito was leaning so that his head was no longer against the passenger door. Then he hopped out of the truck and walked over to the other side. He opened the door and pulled him out. Raito was certainly heavier than he looked. He let out a unhappy moan as he was dumped unceremoniously into the front seat of the car and buckled in. L then grabbed the toolbox from the truck and tossed it into the backseat.

The smell of sea water and sweat mingled with cat urine and L had to fight not to pull another face. He quickly cranked down the window to allow the night breeze in. He leaned down and twisted the two wires together again and the car started. His hands clenched on the steering wheel as he stepped on the pedal. He slowly pulled out of the parking lot and continued once again back onto the highway at a more leisurely pace in order to avoid drawing attention.

In order to ensure that they would get away safely, L had to do one more thing. The cops would no doubt be on the look out in other cities and states for the license plate of the stolen car. He'd seen this maneuver done before and it was very effective in getting away from those in law enforcement. L decided that he would drive randomly until he found what he was looking for. It wasn't like the police actually knew where he was going. The fact that the map to Wisconsin had been left there in the car that had belonged to the Bourdeaus may benefit him in this case. At the very least, their forces would be more heavily concentrated there.

L continued along the highway for an hour before he pulled off at a random exit and continued on into another city. He glanced around, looking for a white car similar to the one that he was driving. Predawn light was beginning to filter over the horizon by the time he found what he was looking for.

He pulled up in front of a house. L grabbed a screwdriver from the toolbox and took off his car's license plates. He walked down the driveway and up to the other car. Kneeling on the ground, he took off the license plates of that car and put on the ones from his. He then walked back and screwed the license plates on to his bumpers.

L slipped behind the wheel and glanced at Raito. He was still unconscious. _Hopefully Raito-kun will wake up soon._

L leaned over and opened the top buttons of Raito's shirt. He didn't stir. L gently pulled the shirt away from his shoulder. What he saw made him bite his sore thumb again in shock. The bullet wound was almost completely healed. New, pink flesh encircled the wound. The hole, however, had healed strangely. The hole itself was still there. L leaned Raito forward and checked for the exit wound. It was still larger than the entrance wound. The wounds themselves had not closed. The passage that the bullet had formed through Raito's flesh was still easy to see. The walls of the wound were supported by cartilage and scar tissue. His shoulder was mutilated.

L ignored the blood dripping down his thumb and ran the fingers of his free hand around the ridge of the wound. Raito tensed and let out a low moan of pain. L withdrew his hand immediately. _Yes, Raito-kun will wake up soon. But he will not be happy. _

L shifted uncomfortably as his stomach growled. He was rather hungry, and used to eating sweets pretty much every hour. Raito would also need something to eat when he woke up. He sighed. This was becoming a rather large pain. He also needed to stop to go to the washroom. That meant that he would need to find a friendly place where he could get food and relieve himself.

He would also need to find a map that would take him to Cincinnati, Ohio so that he could locate the one with the Horn of Angelus. L finally found what he needed. A sign passed him, welcoming him to the city of Isenhopper and he headed forward to the nearest gas station. Once that was located, L pulled a U-Turn and headed back out of town. He turned off the main road and onto an unpaved one. The car bounced and jarred as he continued down the trail. From the overgrowth, it was clear that no one had been there in a really long time. L glanced ruefully at the dark tire tracks that lead all the way back to the main road. It would have to do. There was no other place where it would take time to find Raito. He stepped out of the car. It would take him an hour to walk there and an hour to walk back.

L sighed and started walking. It was perhaps about ten thirty in the morning by the time that L saw the gas station in the distance. The sun shone overhead. It was clear that it was to be a hot day. A few cars passed him while he was on his way, but none actually bothered stopping.

The bell rang overhead as he opened the door. A bored looking young man was sitting in a chair reading a magazine. He didn't even look up when L went to stand before him at the counter.

"Do you have a washroom in this store?" L asked.

The man jumped and looked up from his magazine. His eyes widened and he nearly fell off his chair.

"K-Kira!"

L just watched him and gnawed on his undamaged thumb.

"Yes. Do you have a washroom?"

"Y-yes. Here's the key," the man handed it over.

L came back a few minutes later and gave him back the key. He then wandered through the aisles and grabbed several bags of sweets, five sandwiches and a couple of large bottles of water.

"This will do," L said.

The young man trembled.

"Well? How much...Steve?"

"H-how do you know my name?"

L just gestured towards his chest. Steve looked down at his name tag.

"O-of course!"

"So how much?" L pulled out some money.

"I-it's free!" Steve squeaked.

L returned the squeak with a frown. "This should be enough."

L dropped a hundred dollar bill on the counter.

"W-would you like a couple of bags?"

"That would be most appreciated."

Steve hastily shove everything that L had brought to the counter in bags and handed them to him.

"You of course know not to tell anyone about this, Steve," L said.

"Have... have a nice day," Steve said weakly.

L stepped out of the store and immediately grabbed one of the packaged little cakes. The sun was high in the sky and heat rose off the pavement in waves. Sweat dotted L's brow as he made the slow trip back to the car. It was good, he thought that the car had had a full tank of gas when he started. He did not want any more people than necessary to know that he and Raito were nearby.

L pulled another confectionery out of the bag and munched on it as he approached the car. He was feeling much more like his normal self. A shriek echoed through the trees. L crammed the last of the sweet in his mouth and raced down the trail. Raito was awake.

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Alright: so comments, suggestions, criticisms?

And yes a semi could out run a police car. I looked it up :)


	20. Raito Awakens

**A/N: **_Hello all, remember me? Here is the next chapter. I had a bit of a writer's block hit me half way through and then only broke it a couple of days ago when ranting about my woes with this chapter to a coworker. I will admit that I don't actually like this chapter that much. I am off to work and will double check the editing when I get back. _

**Disclaimer**: I own a lot of things. Death Note is not one of them.

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Chapter 19 Shinigami

Raito first became aware of a cramping pain in his spine. His neck had a strange pressure against it and his whole body felt stiff. His nose wrinkled as the stench of sea water, body odor and cat urine came to his nose. He stayed still for a few moments and tried to remember where he was.

A flash of a picture of a semi truck and the memory of a burning pain in his shoulder. _I was shot. Why am I not in pain? _By now it was clear that there was no one else around him. He cracked open his eyes. The first thing he saw was that he was in a car, and the trees straight ahead. Raito glanced around. There was no sign of civilization around him, except for the dead end of the road. The pressure in his neck had been the seat belt digging into it.

"Where am I?"

It was clear that L was not around. He opened the door and stepped out. The road that the car was parked on was one way. They'd have to back out. The tire tracks looked relatively fresh, so he knew he hadn't been there more than a few hours.

Finally, he addressed his shoulder. He still didn't feel any pain, even when he moved it. It didn't even feel like he was on pain killers or any other drugs. Raito unbuttoned his shirt and shuddered at the smell coming off of his body. He had _never _been this dirty. _I need a shower_.

The cloth stuck to his body in the early morning heat. What he saw made him let out a shout of shock. And who could blame him? After all, the bullet wound was still open, yet at the same time healed, still tracing a path through his body. Cautiously, Raito ran his finger around the edge of the wound and bit his lip to stop himself from crying out. Icy tendrils of pain radiated from the wound, making him feel chilly despite the warm weather. Darkness ate away at the edges of his vision and he fought down a wave of nausea. He held onto the car to steady himself until the dizziness passed.

"Is Raito-kun feeling better?" came an inquiring voice behind him.

Raito let out another shout of shock and turned around. He watched with growing annoyance as the detective stood there eating a donut.

"Ryuzaki!"

He gestured to his arm. "Why are you dressed properly for once? And what the hell happened to my shoulder?"

"Ah I believe the Death Note healed it Raito-kun," L replied. "The clothes were given to me."

"How much time has passed?"

"Approximately ten hours. You need a bath."

Raito twitched. "I am well aware of that, Ryuzaki thank you very much. And why do you smell significantly less awful than me?"

"I ended up in a different situation than you." L then relayed the story of how he had met the Bourdeaus and what had happened to them.

"So how far are we from where we need to go?"

"Approximately sixteen hundred kilometres, Raito-kun," L said. "We will have to take a couple of detours in order to avoid those who are searching for us. We will also only be travelling at night. As for bathing, I am afraid you will have to make do for now until we find a creek or another body of water."

Raito was aghast. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I am afraid not. We cannot contact anyone or request assistance for this quest. We both need to follow the rules to this game or face death."

"The Shinigami King already seems to be bending the rules," Raito gestured to his shoulder. "I can move it without any discomfort, my arm is just as strong as before, but if I touch it, it hurts. A lot. You can't tell me that the Shinigami King doesn't have a hand in this."

"It may be an effect of the Death Note itself," L said. "One that isn't written in the rules."

"That is possible. Ryuk told me that the shinigami were not under any obligation to write down all of the rules but this doesn't quite suite his character. He seemed to be curious about what a human would do with the notebook when they possessed the knowledge of how it works. Ryuk probably didn't know that rule if it were true. I still think that this is the work of the Shinigami King. He did kill all of the people in the museum in order to unnerve us."

"Why would he heal you, Raito-kun?"

"Shinigami have a strange sense of humour. He probably did it because one I am not supposed to die yet and it would be boring if I did."

"I doubt it, Raito-kun. Though I cannot say for certain why your shoulder healed in the way it did."

"I demand a bath."

"We've been over this already Raito-kun."

"Well it's easy for you to say when you are already clean."

"Well I have to put up with your smell, and I will be smelling the same within a few days," L replied.

"It's going to attract attention," Raito muttered. "And I am not going to stay in this car all of the time!"

"We will do as you wish then."

"You... gave in that easily."

"I would rather not here you whine for the rest of the trip."

"I do _not _whine!" Raito seethed.

"I beg to differ Raito-kun. You do whine. A lot."

"No I don't!"

"Denying it won't change reality, Raito-kun."

Raito fell silent and glared at L. Really! There were so few things left for him to take pride in. One of them was his appearance. For L to refuse to allow him to get clean was a humiliating situation.

L handed Raito another sandwich.

"We'd better hurry off then, if you want to stop and get clean."

L opened the driver's side and slipped in. Raito did the same on the passengers side.

"Have I mentioned that this car reeks?"

"I know it does. We will be getting a new one by the end of tomorrow night."

Steve looked up from his Play Boy magazine thinking about how he had escaped his brush with death, and how he would definitely not be telling all of his friends about it. It kind of sucked. Nothing interesting ever happened to him. And now that it had, he wasn't allowed to say anything about it!

The sound of the door opening woke him from his daze and he looked up. And his face paled to the point where it was greyer than that of the dark haired Kira standing before him. The other Kira was standing behind him and a little to the left. Steve barely noticed the terrible smell wafting through the air, his eyes focused on the two in front of him.

"We are going to use your restroom," L said. Behind him the other Kira sent him a sinister smirk.

Steve just nodded. One of these days, he would die of terror. He just knew it.

Raito dashed towards the washroom, in desperate hopes of getting clean. There was no shower. Of course there wasn't. But there was hand soap and for now that would have to be good enough. He wasted no time in locking the door behind him and stripping himself down to his boxers. After kicking the clothing to the side where they wouldn't get wet, he turned on the tap. He looked up and caught a glance of himself in mirror.

Raito had to admit to himself that he looked terrible. His skin was abnormally pale under the grime and it was apparent that he had lost some weight. His hair was a mess as well and so greasy that his naturally brown hair looked dyed. He brushed his fingers through it and winced at the nasty feeling. There was a small section of seaweed caught between his finger tips and his nose wrinkled in disgust. It would take a long time for him to be completely clean.

L leaned against the counter in boredom. It had already been twenty minutes and he knew that it would probably be even longer before Raito was even close to done.

Steve had not taken his eyes off him once and it was quite annoying.

L glanced around and his eyes caught on the candy bar display. He grabbed a large snickers bar and lifted it up between his thumb and forefinger so that Steve could see.

"Can I have this?" he asked.

Steve let out a squeak.

L took it to be a yes and tore off the wrapper.

"You don't get much business here, do you?"

Steve shook his head mutely.

Raito came out of the bathroom after another forty minutes. His hair was damp, and his clothes were soaked.

"Don't think for a moment that replaced a regular shower," he snapped and stalked out the door.

L grabbed another candy bar and followed.

-----

They allowed night to fall before they set out again. Thanks to his prolonged exposure to the Death Note, Raito's cravings were at a minimum. Combined with the fact that he was clean and not in any pain had put him in a more tolerable mood.

They left the sleepy town and raced through a couple more cities before L brought them to a halt in the middle of another suburban neighbourhood. He pulled out the necessary tools and switched license plates once more, but kept the same car.

"Why can't we change cars?" Raito complained.

"You probably know this yourself, Raito-kun, but we can not because it is better that only license plates are switched. It makes our trail harder to follow than if we took a new car every time we stop. It is likely that the owners will not even notice for a while which gives us an edge. You are just complaining. Are you not used to the smell yet?"

"That's not the point! We're going to draw more attention if we travel around in a vehicle which smells of cat urine, seaweed and sweat."

"People are not in the habit of sniffing the interior of other people's cars. We will be fine, Raito-kun."

A huffy sigh was all he got in response.

L got in and they continued on. Finally, after all of that commotion in the last couple of days, they were allowed some reprieve from those chasing them. L made sure to stay off the highways as much as possible and to travel in a pattern that would seem aimless to anyone who was pursuing them while moving closer to their goal as he went.

They broke into a house so that Raito and L could take a shower because as much as L hated to admit defeat, Raito was right in the case of hygiene. It would be much harder for them to stay unnoticed when they did need to stop for food and water. Even if they threatened the people who they interacted with the Death Note, it did not guarantee their safety by a long shot. He made sure to be as careful as he could in order to ensure his and Raito's survival. After all their lives were, in his opinion, much more important to him than any one person that died.

"What is this, Raito-kun?"

Raito looked up and saw the black stone that had gotten him through the worst of his cravings for the Death Note in L's hand.

They were currently stopped in another lightly forested area, for a bathroom break.

"Give it back!" he snarled.

"Not until you tell me what this is, Yagami-kun," L said impassively. "I do have my suspicions however, so do not bother trying to lie."

"You haven't called me that in a while," Raito commented.

"Do not try to change the subject."

"It's the stone that the Shinigami King gave me," Raito said.

"What caused the change?"

"I don't know."

"You lie, Yagami-san. You would have told me otherwise in hopes that it would be a clue to succeed at our mission. What is it used for?"

"Why do you care?" Raito snapped.

"You are acting out of character Raito-kun."

"I am not! Why are you saying that?"

"You are also acting far below your intelligence level. Give me the stone."

"No! The Shinigami King gave it to me."

"I believe that it is affecting your judgement. Give it to me."

"No."

"Well if it is not affecting your judgement, you should have no problem handing it over."

L extended his hand towards him. Raito glared and reluctantly dropped the stone into L's hand. Or at least he tried to. He shook his hand in order to dislodge it. It seemed to just hang on tighter. Raito turned his hand over and noticed that it seemed to be pulsing, in time with his heartbeat. He tried to pull it off, but his fingers ghosted through it.

L grabbed Raito's hand and frowned. He couldn't touch it either.

"Raito-kun... what is this?"

"It's the stone the Shinigami King gave me. I have been using it to suppress my Death Note cravings," Raito said. "It became a little darker every time I used it."

"The question is, how are we supposed to succeed in our endeavors when you hide something like this, Yagami-san?"

"You would have taken it away!"

"I wish I could have," L replied.

They stood and just watched it. Dark strings shot out of the pulsing item and plunged into his hand. Arteries and veins began to swell and were clearly visible under the skin. Raito yelped in pain as the pressure in his arm increased. Smaller blood vessels began to show underneath the skin as well. This time Raito let out a scream.

"Please be quieter, Raito-kun. Someone will hear us."

He got a glare in return.

L reached out and placed his hand on Raito's chest. There was no heart beat. He pressed harder on Raito's chest. There was still nothing. L turned and looked at the thing pulsing in Raito's palm. It had expanded too approximately the size of a human heart.

L pulled the Death Note out from underneath his shirt and touched it to the thing. It also passed through. As he watched, it began to slowly sink into Raito's hand.

Raito all but shrieked, his voice reaching a shrillness that L would have thought impossible. He reacted quickly. L took off his sweater, and tore the fabric along one of the more frayed edges. He rolled part of the fabric into a tight ball and forced it into Raito's mouth. Tears rolled down the other's cheeks as L used the remaining ends to bind it tightly around Raito's head.

"Bite it, Raito-kun," L said.

Raito obeyed and bit down on the cloth. He sat down on the ground and dug his fingers into the dirt. L crouched down beside him and waited for Raito to pass out from the pain. Unfortunately for Raito, that didn't happen. He tore the fabric out of his mouth and threw up instead.

Over the next four hours, they silently watched the thing slowly creep up his arm and through his chest until it landed in the hole left by the bullet wound in Raito's chest. As soon as the heart had settled in, the bullet wound sealed itself, leaving a round scar. By this time he was pale and shaking. L forced him to eat a couple of sandwiches, and hauled him into the passenger's side of the car. Raito buckled his seat belt and promptly fell asleep. L looked up at the sky and noticed that it had just begun to lighten. He climbed in the car and crouched down on the driver's seat. They had lost too much time to go farther that night.

As the day wore on, L did not move, except to get some candy from the back seat. He sat there running their plans through his head and when he had finally gotten tired of thinking about that, he switched to running complicated mathematical equations through his head to pass the time. Normally he would have just bugged Raito, but it didn't look like the young man would have moved if L had dumped ice water over his head.

Finally L just got up, put on his shoes, which he didn't even wear when he was driving and headed off for a walk to ease his restlessness. It was an hour before sunset when he returned. He found Raito exactly where he had left him still asleep. L bit his thumb and frowned as he looked at Raito. His skin looked paler.

L opened the door and slipped inside. He leaned over Raito and turned on the overhead light. His eyes had not been fooling him. He placed his hand over Raito's forehead to find it ice cold. L had to restrain himself from flinching.

"Raito-kun, wake up," L said quietly.

Raito didn't even stir. L jabbed him sharply in the side. Raito's eyes flew open and he let out a shriek.

"Ryuzaki?"

"Raito-kun. Your eyes are red,"

"Pardon?"

"Your eyes are red, Raito-kun," L pulled down the overhead shade and flipped open the little mirror. "See?"

"This is a problem." Raito squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. The irises remained red.

"Yes it is. The Shinigami King seems confident that he is going to win."

"So I noticed," Raito said dryly.

"In light of recent changes, I propose that we abandon our original plan and form a new one. There is a ninety-eight percent chance that these changes are caused by that new heart of yours."

"A direct route would be best in this case," Raito was still absorbed in studying his reflection. He had a bone to pick with that Shinigami King.

"We only have six days left, Raito-kun. There will be no more stops except for bathroom breaks, gas pick up, and license plate changes. We have enough water if we are careful. If we are lucky, we should make it in a day and a half, two days at the most."

Six days remaining.

* * *

_So... review and tell me what you think! _


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